Catechumen's Counselor 



Edifieatien ©f Baptized Members 



REFORMED CHURCH. 



By Rev. John M. Schick, D. D. 



"That good thing which was com- 
mitted unto thee keep by the Holy 
Ghost which dwelleth in us " 

2 Timothy 1 : 14. 



Cleveland, Ohio: 
Central Publishing House of the Kef. Church in the U. S. 
1134-1138 Pearl Street. 
1900. 



Library of Congress 

Iwo Copies Received 
FEB £1 

mJU3$jJ$. 

SECOND COPY 



Copyright, 1900, by 
Central Publishing House, 
1134-1138 Pearl Street, Cleveland, 0. 



PREFACE.'"' 



HIS little book is addTessed-^tortke'Giatechumens of 



1 the Reformed Church, not because I believe that 
they need, more than others, the counsels herein con- 
tained ; but because of my desire to recognize, in this 
way, the source from which the suggestion for this 
work has come. 

The topics treated have nearly all come to me from 
questions raised by members of catechetical classes, 
while I have, during the last twenty five years, been 
permitted to instruct in the truths received and taught 
in our part of the Holy Catholic Church of Christ. 

What some have inquired about may interest others. 
And I little more than half believe that there are not a 
few, who will welcome the coming of this contribution 
to our church literature because it contains in handy 
form a few simple things, which otherwise might hardly 
be worth putting into book form. 

There is nothing in these pages, which your pastor 
would not easily have told you, if you had asked him ; 
or which you could not, with a little pains have 
gathered from the literature of the church, but it is 




put together here for the convenience of such as may- 
lack inclination or opportunity for such a task. 

So, praying that He who knows the sparrow's worth 
and recognizes the message of the grass as it grows, 
may also find some use for this little book in His service, 
it is sent forth as a bearer of a denominational message 
to the youth of our beloved Reformed Church, which 
whilst it has very modestly taken its place among the 
denominations of this country devotedly loves and 
serves its faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 



fi. Few W©]?ds \@ (§ai$ee^ui]qer?8. 



5 



A First Word to the Catechumen. 



OU are a baptized member of the Church 



Jl of Jesus Christ. As such you are enti- 
tled to such instruction in holy things, as your 
Catechetical training contem plates. Your pa- 
rents and your Church owe it to you. The 
former because they promised it for you when 
you were baptized, and the latter, because the 
Church as your spiritual mother recognizes it 
as her duty to give you the training she de- 
manded to be promised for you. 

By your baptism you are continually assured 
that the sacrifice of our Saviour on the cross 
is of real and personal benefit to yourself ; — 
your Christian name is a continual reminder 
of the fact ; — and the congregation of which 
you are a member will ever help you grow in 
the enjoyment of its blessings. 

It is to bring to your mind the riches of the 
grace in which you stand that you have been 




7 



— 8 — 



gathered into the Catechetical Class by your 
pastor, who is daily bearing you on his heart, 
in earnest prayer to God that you may be so 
led by the Holy Ghost as to bring you to a 
fuller knowledge of the truth, in which you 
are being instructed and taught, so that you 
may enjoy the comfort that is yours in Jesus 
Christ our Lord. 

And you should daily pray to your heaven- 
ly Father for that spiritual help you need to 
keep you in full consciousness of the high 
place into which God called you, when you 
were made a member of His kingdom upon 
earth. And now, since you are in the enjoy- 
ment of His favor, you will also pray for and 
endeavor to attain to that blessed knowledge 
which will enable you to worthily represent 
Him among your fellows. So that, as a cate- 
chumen, you may be continually growing in 
that grace by which you have been called into 
the fellowship of your faithful Saviour Jesus 
Christ. 



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Memorial 



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Your Memorial Page. 

Write as carefully as you can your full 
name in the first blank line on the memorial 
page. Then fill all the other blanks as soon 
as it is possible for you to learn the necessary 
names and dates. 

When filled out, the page will serve as a 
record of the great events in your life, and 
you will be able to refer to it on occasion, 
and not only refresh your mind with the facts 
recorded, but you will also, by reading the 
record, awaken some very interesting and 
profitable reflections. 

Make it a rule to keep this page before 
you, and to often meditate upon the facts as 
you read them. Especially on anniversary 
days let yourself have leisure to call up the 
persons and facts and to dwell upon their 
worth in your life. Think of what they all 
mean for yourself and for others; and let the 
influence of such contemplation affect your 
life for good. A few suggestions are here 



— 10 — 



offered, not to point out all the thoughts — but 
to indicate something of the helpful possi- 
bilities in the right use of the memorial 
page. 

Your Name. 

Read it . It occupies the first line so that the 
page may be personal. Then ask yourself why 
this name is yours, and why you should have 
two or more names. This fact alone may 
bring up the most pleasant memories of the 
persons or circumstances which your name 
suggest, and will help to make you consider- 
ate in bestowing a name on anyone, whom 
God gives you the opportunity of naming. 

You have, as you observe, both a surname 
and a Christian name. And the latter stands 
first because of its prominent significance. 
Your surname, or family name, reminds you 
of your relation to your earthly father, and 
your Christian name serves the same purpose 
with respect to your heavenly Father. 

By your surname you are distinguished 
from the sons and daughters of all other 
families in the world. It serves to remind 



you that you belong to your family and its 
connections. For one generation you carry 
the family honor a step forward. Shall it be 
upwards or downwards? The honor of your 
father's good name rests upon you, do not 
stain it. You owe it to both your ancestry 
and to your posterity to make the name one 
to be proud of. It stands for family history, 
family purity, family love. It suggests to 
you very distinctly the fifth commandment. 
It reminds you that you are not in the world 
for yourself and that others, parents and kin- 
dred, rejoice or suffer according as you make 
the name honored or not. Others are inter- 
ested with you in all your acts and your fam- 
ily name keeps the fact before you. 

But your Christian name — the one which 
world customs minimise and often abbreviate 
into initials; or discard altogether and soften 
into a pet or nick name — stands for even a 
more important fact. It serves, it is true, to 
distinguish you from the other members of 
your family, but that is merely incidental. 
Merely designatory characters are found in pet 
names and in many other terms as you know. 



— 12 — 



Kings of the same cognomen, for instance, are 
distinguished by numerals after their names. 

But far more than such distinguishing is 
signified by your Christian name. Whenever 
you read or hear it, it carries the suggestion 
of your Christian relation to God and man. 
It recalls your baptism, when it was given 
you, and the obligations then taken. It 
stands first in order, by the providence of 
God, to emphasize the prime importance of 
the spiritual kingdom to which you belong, 
nnd to impress upon you the responsibility for 
living a Christian life. 

It says you belong to your Saviour Jesus 
Christ, and ever suggests the new name writ- 
ten on the foreheads of those, who shall see 
the face of God and serve Him. 

So your name will ever serve to keep you 
in mind of the two kingdoms in which God 
has called you; and as you study it you will 
he led to pray your Father to give you 
strength by the heavenly kingdom in which 
you live, to fulfill the duties resting upon you 
in both your earthly and heavenly relations 
whilst you are struggling homewards. 



— 13 — 



Tour Birthday. 

You will not likely forget this in the earlier 
day of your life. You will be reminded in 
many ways of its annual return. And it has- 
many lessons which you should also learn. 

The return of your birthday will make a 
very excellent time for self-examination — 
self -proving, if there were such a word, would 
be a better term. Your birthday is a proper 
time to look over your life during the year 
and see whether you have gone forward or 
backward; whether you have used or abused 
the mercy and love of God; whether you are 
better or worse in any way. 

It is also a good time for renewing your 
vows and settling your intentions for the fu- 
ture. Let no memory of broken resolutions 
deter you. Make stronger ones this year, 
ones that will not break so easily. Do not 
make them just as good as last year, but 
better; and give yourself more loyally to your 
consecration to Christ. He will not fail you. 
It was not He who failed you when you broke 
former resolutions. Trust more in Him and 
less in self and try again. In Him is strength. 



— 14 — 

But your birthday suggests other questions, 
such as touching the purpose of your life. 
Why did God make you? Why did He en- 
dow you so wonderfully ? Surely He meant 
a being such as you are for some great and 
good purpose. On your birthday look back 
over life* Are you finding out the reasons 
for your birth ? the responsibilities of your 
being? the end to which you are hastening? 
the reality of your living? 

Again, the birthdays as you lookback over 
them plainly point to your advantages. How 
have you used them? How much of life is 
wasted? What opportunities has the past 
year left or the opening year offered ? Pray 
that on your birthday you will enjoy the 
grace to face the solemn responsibilities of 
living in your father's house. 

Your birthday suggests also your obliga- 
tions to your parents. Through how many 
years have they carried you ? What suffer- 
ing, anxiety, self denial, efforts have they 
given to your growth and progress? On your 
birthday you will do well to recall all you can 
think that your parents have devoted to your 



— 15 — 



wellbeing, to the end that you may settle by 
what expression of love you will start your 
new year as a worthy recipient of such fa- 
vors, and how you will prove yourself worthy 
of them. 

Finally, on the birthday look forward to 
the day of your death. It is not a long look. 
As you look backward the years seem short, 
and when you look forward they seem longer 
but they are not so. Fill every year with 
such service as will make your backward 
glances, later on, occasions of gratitude. 
Whatever you will desire to look back upon, 
you will need to do now and the opportunities 
for doing it are becoming fewer. 

Your Baptismal Day. 

The anniversary of this day will perhaps 
be more easily overlooked. But it is import- 
ant that oftener than on its anniversary you 
should consider it, and its significance. Re- 
call how by it you are "admonished and as- 
sured that the one sacrifice of Christ upon 
the cross is of real advantage" to you. 



— 16 — 



One ought not to lose sight of the divinely 
appointed sign and seal of so great a blessing 
and spiritual inheritance, but it should be 
continually kept in mind so as to enjoy by the 
grace of God the continual assurance of our 
being "sanctified to be members of Christ' ' to 
the end that we may through the heavenly 
help daily "die unto sin and lead holy and 
umblamable lives." 

To recall your baptism is to recall also the 
fact that you are a child of Christian parents. 
And you will very properly, when reviewing 
this fact, thank God for the blessings that 
are yours in this respect: for the divine in- 
fluences under which you grew up; for the 
prayerful life in which you developed; for 
the instruction you received ; for the cara 
you enjoyed ; for the whole realm of blessed 
surroundings, which were yours because you 
were born and brought up in a Christian 
family. 

On the anniversary of your baptism, when 
you have been especially reminded that you 
have been by the grace of God a babe in 
Christ, you will do well to contemplate your 



— 17 — 



growth in grace, and thank God you are not 
remaining an overgrown baby but are now 
becoming more and more a developed Christian 
until you come, in the language of inspira- 
tion, " unto a perfect man unto the measure 
of the stature of the fullness of Christ." 

The Day of your Confirmation. 

The annual return of this day you should 
always observe with prayerful devotion. Too 
many are unable to recall the day at all. 
Some even are in doubt as to the year. And 
others even have obsolutely forgotten the re- 
sponsibility and neglected the fact of their 
confirmation* 

This ought not to be. And if you will but 
keep the record of the memorial page, you 
can frequently recur to it, it will help you to 
ever remember the day and its vows, as well 
as the instructions you have received, through: 
which you were enabled to make them intelli- 
gently. 

You will remember with what faithful de- 
votion your pastor sought to teach you the im- 
portance of the Christian life; how he tried to 

2 



— 18 — 



help you realize that belonging to your saviour 
Jesus Christ it was your privilege to confess 
Him before men; how he prayed with you and 
for you that you might be strong to give your 
life wholly to the service of the Saviour who 
so loved you as to offer Himself the sacrifice 
for your redemption. 

You will never forget the holy fervor with 
which you took upon yourself the obligations 
of the Christian life ; nor will the recollection 
of the blessed experiences of the confirmation 
service ever fail to give you pleasure so long 
as you continue steadfast in that communion 
into which you sacredly entered when you 
made your sponsor's vows your own. 

It will do you good to frequently review 
your life in the light of the confirmation hour. 
Ask yourself, and answer your own question- 
ing honestly as before God, about your con- 
tinued sincerity, devotion, zeal. And the 
moment when you detect the slightest depart- 
ure from the Christian life confess to your 
Father, and repent, and return. There is no 
doubt about His forgiving love, let there be 
no delay in your return when straying. 



— 19 — 



After your confirmation keep the day and 
the fact always in mind, and statedly call 
yourself to a report of your doings. 

On the anniversary of the day read over 
the confirmation services, hymns and all. Re- 
call the text and the sermon with its admoni- 
tions and celebrate the joy of the first occa- 
sion by repeating the vows, praying the pray- 
ers, singing the hymns; and reconsecrate 
yourself to that service which is the only per- 
fect freedom, which multiplies all your joys 
and adds not a single sorrow. 

Use in this way the anniversary of your 
confirmation and in all its using fail not to 
realize how very real the Christian life in all 
its experiences is and learn to frequently re- 
view them, so that gratitude may be awakened 
in your heart and God be praised with your 
thanksgiving. 

The Anniversary of your First Communion. 

Record the date of your first approach to 
the Holy Communion and also the text of the 
sermon and make it a rule to annually observe 
the day in prayer and some act of benevol- 



— 20 — 



ence, which will be a sort of renewal of that 
blessed joy with which you first accepted the 
assurance that you are a partaker of the sac- 
rifice of your Saviour and a sharer in all its 
benefit. 

Although every communion of your life 
will serve as such, yet in your personal Christ- 
ian experience, it will be well to annually 
celebrate the fact of your union with the 
Lord by recalling your communion, and by 
special self-examination and prayerful medi- 
tation upon your blessed Christian life among 
men. 

Under the topic of the Holy communion 
you will find suggestions which will be a 
guide for your course in this connection, only 
make its examination, the prayer, the medi- 
tation more particularly with reference to your 
life as a member of Christ, on this day cele- 
brating your first enjoyment of the condescen- 
sion of your Lord and Saviour who gave His 
life that you might live in Him and for Him 
among men. 



— 21 — 



Your Vows. 

Catechetical instruction is based upon the 
covenanted relation to God, in which you 
stand as a baptised member of the Church, 
and is, itself, an expression on the part of the 
Church, that it recognizes the relation ; and 
all the effort of your parents and your pastor 
have been directed to awaken in your heart 
the desire to make these obligations person- 
ally your own. 

Ever since your baptism you have held an 
assured place among the children of God ; 
and, since you have been able to learn, you 
have been trained in the faith of our Lord 
Jesus Christ and frequently been reminded 
of the obligations resting upon you by virtue 
of this relation. 

The vows made for you and in your name at 
your baptism are binding upon you. Your 
renunciation of the world, the flesh, and the 
devil is as definite and full as if you had at 
the time been able to personally make it 
yourself* Your allegiance to the kingdom 
of heaven was at the same time as positively 
made. And the vows which in one sense 



— 22 — 



bind you to loyalty to that kingdom, bound 
at the same time and just as truly, with 
that kingdom all its benefits to you. 

You are not in any sense independent of, 
but on the contrary you are positively con- 
nected with, the kingdom by ties as real — 
more real — than those which bind citizens 
to their state or nation. 

In these vows you have first of all re- 
nounced the devil with all his works and 
ways; the world with all its vain pomp and 
glory; and the flesh with all its sinful desires. 
And then you have vowed to believe the 
things necessary to your salvation ; and 
thirdly you have vowed to be trained in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

By the first you are separated from the in- 
fluences and forces that bind you to enmity 
towards God. In this triple renunciation 
there is represented a complete severing of 
the bonds of earth and sin. True, Satan does 
not recognize you as free from his dominion. 
He means to hold and keep you as his own, 
and so far as he can control you by the incli- 
nations of the flesh he will make unreal to 



— 23 — 



you the act by which you declared yourself as 
free from his sovereignty. You will there- 
fore, by fully appreciating the significance of 
this vow, be able to see that it is not an ad- 
ditional burden you have accepted, but that 
on the contrary, it is a declaration made for 
you of your wish to be free from the burden 
of sin, and in the desire so to be, you have 
renounced all that binds you to it. 

By your second vow you have declared 
your faith in God as your Creator, Redeemer, 
and Sanctifier; and thus your allegiance to 
this kingdom in which you stand has been 
declared. For this is the distinguishing mark 
of the Redeemer's kingdom. This is the vic- 
tory that overcometh the world even our 
faith. Everything else about our religion 
may be imitated. Christian morality may 
for sufficient purposes be simulated. The 
unbeliever may give alms. The infidel may 
pray. But there is no imitation of faith. 
You have confessed your faith and so are, as 
long as you have not renounced it, thereby a 
member of the kingdom of the redeemed, 
consequently you may regard your second 



— 24 — 



tow in the light of a declaration of al- 
legiance, and not as only a promise to be- 
lieve. 

Your third vow is to grow in grace. True, 
your sponsor promised to train you in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord. But it was 
made in your name, and in your behalf, and 
implies the desire on your part, as born of 
God, to grow in the life into which you are 
begotten by the word of truth, so that is it 
wholly proper for you to see in your third 
baptismal vow a continual obligation to trae 
devotion to the kingdom into which you are 
incorporated by the sacrament of baptism. 

By a frequent review of these precious 
vows ; by a constant appreciation of their 
significance ; and by a loyal adherance to 
them, you will realizet he freedom, power, 
and life of the kingdom into which we are 
begotten by the will and grace of God. You 
will thus keep before you the fact that, 
though in this world, you are a member of the 
heavenly kingdom and you may also be led 
to seek the strength belonging to it so that 
your growing in this grace will daily become 



— 25 — 



more worthy of your place in it. Constantly 
pray God to keep you true to your vows. 

Your Catechisation. 

Your catechetical instruction ought not to 
he regarded as a preparation for beginning your 
religious life, but it is, on the contrary, to 
be considered as a training in that life, which, 
as a covenanted child of God, is yours to en- 
joy and to declare among men. 

You are a baptized member of the Chris- 
tian family, consecrated to God in the sacra- 
ment of the Saviour's own appointing and, as 
such, you are incorporated into the kingdom 
of God and are now being instructed in the 
things which make you blessed. Instead of 
being separate from Christ and being made 
ready to be led to Him, you are already dedi- 
cated to His service and being trained for it. 
You are a member of His kingdom learning 
to know its privileges and hopes, a recruit 
being drilled. 

Your catechetical instruction did not be- 
gin when your pastor enrolled you as a mem- 



— 26 — 



ber of his class, nor will it end when the spir- 
itual Council of your congregation has ex- 
pressed itself as satisfied with your prepara- 
tion for the rite of confirmation and you are,, 
by prayer and the laying on of hands, fully 
set apart to the service of God. 

It began at your mother's knee, when you 
were first taught of Jesus, and when your 
parents were fulfilling their baptismal obliga- 
tions by reminding you often of your vows, and 
when they were teaching you how to pray, 
what to believe, and how to live. 

So also your instruction was continued 
when you were brought to Sunday school and 
when in the services of the Church you were 
being trained in the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord, and so long as you sit among the 
leaners will, in a true sense, your catechisa- 
tion be continued. 

But all this only emphasises that particular 
part of your religious, training which is speci- 
fically called the Catechetical Class. Here 
your pastor gives his personal care to your 
spiritual growth. The very best talent your 
church has at her command is devoted to your 



— 27 — 



culture and you will do well to make good 
use of your opportunities. You are by this 
means being taught the doctrines and cus- 
toms of your own denomination and if you 
acquire the full benefit of the instruction of- 
fered you, you will be the better qualified to 
live the Christian life, in which you have been 
set apart as a child of God. You will know 
what to believe in order to live and die happy. 

Make good use of the course of instruction so 
that you may make intelligent answers to any 
one inquiring of you a reason for the hope that 
is in you, and, especially, so that you may be 
able to be a worthy member of that Church in 
which God calls you into his fellowship. 

Above all pray that in these lessons you 
may learn to know and love your faithful 
Saviour Jesus Christ more and more until 
you be like Him. 

Commit the Questions and Answers 
to Memory. 

You are in the best period of life for stor- 
ing your mind with religious truths. As you 
grow older you will find it more and more 



— 2S — 



difficult to acquire definitions and accurate 
statements of truth. And just the time when 
most persons are attending upon catechetical 
instruction, is the very time when this fact is 
not appreciated to such an extent as to make 
the effort at memorizing the catechism seem 
to be anything else, than a very great burden. 

Occasions will soon come in your life, if 
they have not already presented themselves, 
when your helpful character as a child of 
God will be greatly increased by having at 
command definite statements of what you and 
your church believe. Your older brethren 
have frequently been asked what does your 
church teach on some given questions, and 
I know of some at least, who would have 
been greatly helped if they had only been 
able to use the language of our catechism but 
were not able to do so because they had lost 
the opportunity of memorizing it in the days 
of their catechetical classes. 

You should "be ready always to give an 
answer to every man that asketh you a reason 
of the hope that is in you." not merely so 
far as it relates to your own personal re- 



— 29 — 



ligious standing, but also with respect to the 
place your church occupies in the general 
body of Christ, and for this end you will be 
made stronger by memorizing the catechism. 
Many a soul has been helped on its heavenly 
way by the light some other Christian has been 
able to give it in times of doubt or trouble. For 
such work your catechism would furnish you 
much material; but you can only make good 
use of it by having it in mind so as to keep 
it, as it were, always in easy reach. 

Again to store your mind with such clear 
statements of truth as you will find in our 
catechism will also enable you, in times when 
you cannot read good literature, to comfort 
yourself with the facts of our holy religion. I 
recall an afflicted Christian, who, in her old 
age, when she was too blind to read and too 
deaf to hear, used to comfort herself, as she 
waited for her deliverance, by repeating over 
and over again the questions and answers of 
the catechism and hymns and passages of 
scripture which she had learned in her youth. 
All else was shut out from her but that which 
she had laid up in her memory. 



— 30 — 



Commit to memory and review often the 
catechism you are learning, for by so doing 
you will both be storing your mind with the 
explanations your pastor is making for you 
and be strengthening yourself with correct 
and authorized definition of spiritual truths. 
Do not allow yourselves to believe that the 
text is too difficult to memorize. The very 
difficulties will fix with them the explana- 
tions, whereas if you have only seen the dif- 
ficulty and heard the explanation, you will 
very likely forget both and sometime in the 
future the very light you or some enquirer 
may need, will have gone from you. 

Make it a rule then, whatever be the hin- 
drances in your way that you will now, when 
memorizing is comparatively easy, commit 
the Heidelberg Catechism to memory as a 
stored treasure for Christian usefulness. 



il Few Wepds l@ Wepsyppeps. 



■51 



The Worship of God. 



Christians cannot value too highly the 
privilege of worshiping God, for by the 
communion thus enjoyed with the Father, 
every child of God is constantly strengthened 
in the divine life. In worship you withdraw 
from the world and come home to your heav- 
enly Father. And in this exercise you are 
continually reminded of your relation to God 
and His Church, of your separation from the 
world, and of your union with Christ. 

Whenever you engage in worship, you af- 
firm the same vows you made when you under- 
took the engagements of the Christian fellow- 
ship; you acknowledge the full right of God 
over all your affairs ; you claim your rights 
as a member of the commonwealth of your 
Saviour; and you enter into the very pleas- 
ure of heaven, for the highest delights in 



— 34 — 



heaven above are found in the adoration and 
praise.of God. 

Your worship will be private or public in 
the fact of its being participated in alone or 
in company, but the worship and its signifi- 
cance is one, not two. 

So also there are several modes of worship, 
— which will be presented to your considera- 
tion, but you are to keep in mind that this 
separation is merely for convenience, and 
that, although one may think or speak of the 
separated elements of worship, worship itself 
is constituted of these elements as a whole. 
Singing and praying, adoration and alms- 
giving, meditation and consecrated living, all 
taken together, constitute one whole act, to 
which violence is done when any one element 
is omitted. 

So when you are urged to exercise yourself 
in any one given part of worship, you will 
keep before you the fact that such particular 
exercise cannot take the place of some other 
one. There can be no substitution of one ele- 
ment of worship for another. Much praying 
could not make up for little giving; or much 



— 35 — 



giving take the place of omitted praying. 
Your religious life needs the benefit of every 
form of worship, and in your growth in grace 
you will find the greatest benefit from the 
fullest participation in all worship. 

Your Attendance upon Divine 
Service. 

Be regular in your attendance upon the 
services of the Sanctuary. For there you 
meet your heavenly Father in a sense that 
you cannot meet Him elsewhere. There you 
are withdrawn from the world in a way other- 
wise impossible. 

As soon as you enter the sanctuary you 
should shut out the whole world ; first, by 
your own private prayer upon entering your 
pew; and then by your participation in the 
worship with your brethren in the congrega- 
tion. The whole service, from the voluntary 
onward is helpful. And just in proportion as 
you enter into all the services with your 
whole heart, will you the more fully be with- 
drawn from the world; and your soul accord- 



— 36 — 



ingly refreshed and strengthened to carry on 
the warfare of your faith. 

Of course the tempter will here as else- 
where attempt to fill your mind with other, 
worldly, thoughts ; for he ever seeks to de- 
prive believers of all spiritual food and 
nourishment. And it calls for the strongest 
exercise of your spiritual powers to ward off 
his approaches at all times; but it becomes 
you as a child of God, to glorify your Father 
by continuing steadfast in your devotions, 
and unless you do you will find yourself led 
off from the worship of God entirely, and de- 
prived of that benefit God means you to en- 
joy in His services. 

The right way for you is to make it a rule 
to engage in all the services ; pray every 
prayer with your pastor or whoever may be 
leading the devotions; sing every hymn and 
sing audibly. Sing with the whole heart, so 
as to have no break in your worship. There 
is perhaps no time when worshippers are led 
off more frequently than during the singing ; 
for then is it possible to whisper a word un- 
observed, as if God did not see. There is, 



— 37 — 



again, no easier avenue of the tempter's ap- 
proach than by the way of making you be- 
lieve that you cannot sing. Everybody can 
say the words with the rest, and even if you 
should strike a wrong note in your singing, 
it will be better to sound a discord in glori- 
fying God, than by your silence to deprive 
yourself of the blessed participation in the 
service of song. If you cannot sing well sing 
a little more softly, but sing anyway so as to 
remove temptation from you. 

So, also, participate, as before God, in the 
meditation of the sermon. This does not 
mean to merely listen to the sermon to enjoy 
it, or to wonder at your minister's learning 
or his ability to speak. Reverently attend 
upon it as a message from God's word to 
yourself with the rest of the congregation. 
Your pastor aims not at your entertainment, 
but at your edification. His object is not to 
give you pleasure but help. It is all the bet- 
ter of course if you can find pleasure in the 
sermon but even when this feature is lacking, 
through inadaptation on your part or your 



— 38 — 



pastor's, you should nevertheless enter into 
the meditation as before the Lord in worship. 

Again you cannot afford to not join in the 
almsgiving, not merely to dispose of your 
money, but to acknowledge your obligation 
to God and to give so much evidence of your 
willingness to share in the work of the Lord 
in saving the world, and in supporting His 
cause. 

Thus by personal participation in the whole 
service will you be drawn into more real com- 
munion w T ith God, and the means of grace, 
and your approach into the presence of God 
will be a blessing to your spiritual life. 

Besides your attendance will make the 
worship of God a greater delight to your fel- 
low Christians. It is always a most encour- 
aging experience to go to worship and then 
find many of God's children there. It en- 
courages your minister both in his preparation 
and in his leadership of the church. It en- 
courages your fellow Christians in making 
them feel that you have an interest in the 
church and also in giving them the benefit of 



— 39 — 



a full service. It also encourages strangers 
and unbelievers who will be won to Christ if 
they find a church filled with real devoted 
followers of Christ worshiping God, to wel- 
come and lead them heavenward. 

Besides your denomination's influence for 
good will thereby be made stronger. Your 
church will always be a gate of heaven and 
those in need of spiritual help will find their 
way thither. There is no greater help to a 
congregation's usefulness than that manifest 
in the constant and regular attendance upon 
divine service. When others are made to re- 
alize what the worship of God means for you ; 
when they see that it is worth a sacrifice to 
you ; when the beneficial results of the serv- 
ice upon yourself are seen and known, then 
will your congregation draw the spiritually 
needy to see their help with you. 

But as these consequences can follow only 
regular attendance at worship, attend every 
service as you live every day of your Chris- 
tian life — for the glory of God — for the honor 
of His church — for the salvation of your fel- 
low men — and your service thus wholly un- 



— 40 — 



selfish will strengthen you in the Christian 
life of faith. 

Be regular in everything that affects your 
Christian walk and conversation, in public 
and private devotions as well, for only so 
may you expect the greatest benefit for your 
personal coromunion with God. 

* 

Praying. 

Of course you will pray often and regularly 
when once you appreciate the comfort and 
significance of prayer. Especially when you 
are able to understand that a believer's prayer 
is an expression of trust and not a mark of 
fear. It is not the cry of a coward but the 
petition of a son, and therefore not a suppli- 
cation for the fulfilment of his self-willed 
desires, but a confession of his self-surrender 
to the will of God. 

In prayer you should recognize the Chris- 
tian's privilege of communing with a kind 
and loving parent, in which by telling your 
needs and longings you also are enabled to 
learn the will of your heavenly Father; for 



— 41 — 



the true prayer of faith is: "not as I will but 
as Thou wilt." 

There is much heathenish thinking about 
praying. Many cry out in times of danger 
and trial to a God they dread and before 
whom they tremble and call their wail a 
prayer. Others plead for deliverance from 
pain and burdens they are unwilling to bear, 
in hopes of escaping the disagreeable. Still 
others beg as slaves of an unwilling tyrant 
for what they think they must have. And so 
on instances might be multiplied in which 
even good Christians pray exactly as the 
heathen do, moved by fear or dread, or other 
purely selfish motive. 

So long as you pray in such a spirit you 
take the real sweetness out of the prayer. 
Our Saviour in every prayer we know of, set 
us a different example. He always prayed 
with submission to the Father whom He 
yet always loved and trusted, because they 
were one ; and when He taught us how to 
pray, He taught us to say: Our Father. 

Consequently, when you as a Christian ap- 
proach the throne of Grace, you may always 



— 42 — 



come in the spirit of a son. Every time you 
pray you assure yourself of the filial relation 
you sustain to your heavenly Father who 
grants you all things good for you both as to 
your body and to your soul. And every Chris- 
tian needs to frequently repeat to himself this 
very assurance which the world and its prince 
so constantly are trying to take away. 

For this reason you have continual reason 
for thankfulness in being permitted thus to 
pray, for without it you could not give ex- 
pression to your gratitude for the mercies you 
enjoy. 

Now, when you appreciate that prayer is 
truly an act of worship to God, and one of 
communion with Him the very common ques- 
tion of answer to prayers becomes an insig- 
nificant one. How could it be otherwise? 
Of course God answers the prayers of His 
children. Generally they are answered be- 
fore the petition is formed. But whether the 
answer be just what you wish or not is a 
matter of the least consequence as compared 
with the other fact that God has granted you 
another blessed assurance that He is your 



— 43 — 



loving Father and that you are in fact His 
own child. 

Cultivate in this spirit the habit of fre- 
quent prayer and your pleasure in the exer- 
cise will be in proportion to your sincerity 
and your faith. Besides you will find grow- 
ing upon you the consciousness of your wor- 
ship with the Father. You will feel God to 
be your Father more clearly as you find 
yourself coming to Him as such in your regu- 
lar approaches to the throne of Grace. There- 
fore determine to pray regularly and fre- 
quently, and carry out the determination un- 
der all possible circumstances. For your 
Christian life will be stronger as you live in 
the spirit of Prayer. 

The kinds of Prayer. 

There are several forms of praying to 
which it will be well for you to give some at- 
tention. 

There is the public prayer of the sanctuary; 
the family prayer of the home ; and the per- 
sonal prayer of the closet. And these neces- 



— 44 — 



sarily differ from each other both in form and 
in spirit. But each form has its place in the 
development of the Christian life and is, in 
fact, indispensable to your growth in grace, 
and it will be well for you to observe the pe- 
culiarities of each and in all your praying re- 
member them. 

Private Prayer. 

Unquestionably the most personal approach 
to God is in the private, closet prayer. Here 
you shut out the world and are alone with 
your Father. You are face to face with Him 
as it were. And this is not because God is 
any nearer to you, but because you have by 
your own act shut out the world and have 
drawn in your mind to commune as a child 
with a loving father. To do this most effec- 
tively it is well to have a place where you 
can be alone, and also to have a time when 
you will not be disturbed. From infancy 
you have offered your prayer on retiring and 
have committed yourself to the guardian care 
of God. You keep this up of course. The 
morning hour when you are fresh, before you 



— 45 — 



enter upon the duties of the day is even a 
better time. But, whenever you take the 
time, it is for you the place and time when 
you open your heart to God. 

Here all your praying will be out of the 
experiences and necessities of your own life. 
You will pray for the things you most need 
and the things in which you are most con- 
cerned, and it will include your own affairs ; 
those of your particular friends; of your con- 
gregation; of your church and all her institu- 
tions and Boards as you are interested in 
them; and in short, you will pray for all your 
personal needs and relations. 

Here you will come into the confidential 
state of fellowship with God and from such 
communing you will receive help and strength 
as well as protection and assurance against 
any evil or temptation or sins. The whole 
occasion is one of your very individual 
life. Nowhere else will you realize as fully 
that God is your Father and you are His 
child. 

But this is not the whole of personal pri- 
vate praying, there is another form of pray- 



— 46 — 



ing which is especially to be cultivated and 
that is the constant prayer; ejaculatory pray- 
ing it is sometimes called. In this habit you 
lift your heart in a sentence prayer, or in a 
sigh for immediate help in time of danger or 
temptation. All through the day and in the 
waking hours of the night will opportunity 
for such be afforded. For such purposes 
quotations from the Bible and particularly 
from the Psalms will be very helpful. As for 
instance on awaking to say 6 ' when I awake I 
am still with Thee", or upon lying down to 
say "I will both lay me down in peace and 
sleep, for Thou, Lord, only makest me to 
dwell in safety." Or when you are in doubt 
4 ' Thou art my rock and my fortress; there- 
fore for Thy name's sake lead me and guide 
me j 11 and when you have had help in any 
time "How excellent is Thy loving kindness 
O God; therefore the children of men put 
their trust under the shadow of Thy wing." 
Well, a book might be made of just such 
prayers ready and proper to be used under all 
circumstances. You will find them as you 



— 47 — 



read your bible, store them and when occasion 
comes use them. 

TBy such constant praying you will culti- 
vate a sort of unending communion with God 
which will help you in many a time of temp- 
tation, and alcove all, will make your life an 
act of -worship, an abiding with the Lord. 

That is the way you do with your best 
friends. You do not get up in the morning 
and go to your mother and make a five min- 
ute speech and forget her till evening and 
make another one and go to bed. You would 
think it strange for anyone to treat a father 
or a friend in such a manner. Treat God as 
your best Father and when you need His 
help, or have received from Him a grace, ask 
for the former, give thanks for the latter. 
Pray thus without ceasing. 

Family Prayer. 

Families meet best when they meet around 
the family altar to worship God. Chris- 
tian families, which recognize God as their 
Father, can in no better way emphasize the 



— 48 — 



faith that is in them, than by worshiping Him 
as a family. 

Family prayer is also of two occasions. 
First when morning and evening the house- 
hold is called together to worship God; and 
the other when they meet at the family table 
for their regular meals. 

Here are afforded to every Christian father 
the opportunities for declaring the family al- 
legiance to God their Father and claiming 
for them that Father's favor. 

The regular gathering of the family at 
morning and evening prayers is the time 
when the word of God is read with the house- 
hold. Then God is honored in the reflection 
on His word and the whole House made to 
give recognition to the real head of the fam- 

These prayers will of necessity be more 
general than the individual closet prayer. 
There are wants of the whole household in 
the relations of the members of the family 
one to the other. And these very relations 
are bettered by a common approach to the 
throne of grace. For as we pray together we 



— 49 - 



humble ourselves together, and, recognizing 
the help we each receive, are ready also to 
help each other live the life that is in us from 
above. And every member of the household 
ought not only to be present at the family 
worship, but also unite in these prayers. 

Families ought to pray regularly. To do 
so will mean a break with the world which 
cannot but lead to a truer family life. The 
world crowds us too much any way. Both by 
pleasure and by care it is crowding out the 
real family life, and there is no stronger bul- 
wark against the encroachment of the world 
than a regularly conducted family worship 
when each one, in his love to God and one 
another, feels himself constrained to be pres- 
ent even at the sacrifice of some pleasure,, 
which will prove to be no sacrifice at all,, 
when the influence of the Christian family is; 
taken into consideration. It is a good thing 
to overcome the demands of business or the 
requirements of society in order to be at 
home when the family meets for prayer. It 
will serve as a continual reminder of the fact 
that God has lifted you above the life of 

4 



— 50 — 



earth and called you into His fellowship. 
And you will thus daily enjoy the opportu- 
nity of declaring your allegiance to God in 
your victory over the demands of the world. 

Family altars are the unseen memorials of 
the triumph of Christ in your family life. 
If you have not yet erected one in your 
home let not another day pass without your 
making a family center of prayer for the 
honor of your Savior. 

Little need be said of the propriety of the 
shorter and more frequent family prayer at 
table. Some families neglect it, but where 
there is no prayer of gratitude offered for 
the food you eat, you may look for all sorts 
of irregularities. 

However there is no more beautiful and 
appropriate service any family can render 
than to reverently acknowledge the source of 
all your comforts when you are about to par- 
take of the necessaries of life. Here you are 
reminded of the real bread of life and of the 
real necessities of life. And here you will 
have to look to Him who has supplied one 
want to supply the other also. Here also in 



— 51 — 



the supply you enjoy you will recall the 
needy and the hungry in all the world, and 
you will, as you enjoy the blessings God 
gives you, become the more ready to share 
your bounties with them that lack. 

Your meal itself becomes a sacred place, 
and the Christian atmosphere, with which your 
prayer graces it, will make it a cheerful, 
blessed gathering. Cultivate the habit of 
prayers at table. 

Before leaving the subject of the family 
prayer, it is worth saying to the fathers of 
every family that in addition to the helpful 
influence of the family prayer, you owe it to 
your children to teach them that they are a 
part of God's family and this can be taught 
in no way better than in family prayer. 

Public Service. 

By the public service of the sanctuary is 
meant any regular worship of the congrega- 
tion: The regular service of the Lord's day 
— any week day service which may be held 
for the edification of the church, the Sunday 
School service, meetings for prayer of any 



— 52 — 



kind; in short any service of the church held 
for prayer. 

This is the third kind of praying to which 
your attention is drawn. And before speak- 
ing of it more in detail, it should be said that 
all the families of the congregation join in 
the public services of the sanctuary, and no 
one can without personal spiritual loss be ab- 
sent from them. 

Even when one has a good and sufficient 
excuse for absenting oneself from the service, 
the excuse may be good but the loss and in- 
fluence of the absence remains. Just as one 
may have a good explanation for failing to 
enjoy any other blessing he may have lost. 

The public service being, as it is, the ap- 
proach of a whole congregation to the throne 
of grace is very much more general than even 
the family prayer is and it ought to be very 
much more comprehensive because it is for 
all. The causes for gratitude are many and 
varied and the true public thanksgiving is 
such as will enable all as they unite in it to 
find it to be the expression of their own grati- 
tude in one prayer. So also the needs of the 



— 53 — 



congregation vary and the prayer is conse- 
quently broader and more general. There 
are many things which all Christians love and 
for which all pray, but even these, when the 
prayer is a general one, are best so expressed 
as to really be a prayer for all these things. 

This is one thing which those who lead in 
prayer too frequently forget. And which 
also those who follow the leaders in prayer 
lose sight of. 

But the point is to be remembered that in 
the public worship the whole people are ex- 
pected to unite. You are to pray with the 
leader. His petitions you make yours and 
when some occasion arrives and you are to 
lead others in prayer, pray for the things be- 
coming the whole people, so they can follow 
you. Your prayer will be more truly fol- 
lowed. 

Young Christians, when their attention has 
not been called to the matter, often forget 
that they are to join in the prayer. The 
prayer is to God not to the congregation, and 
you are not present to hear or enjoy praying 
but to join in the prayer. And if you do 



— 54 — 



join in it you will not be so easily distracted 
in your devotion. A prayer service is some- 
times made to be confusion by each one 
offering his own private prayer. You will 
always do best when you pray with the 
minister. 

Join in the public prayer, aud by so doing 
you will stand before God as among His 
children, and you will thus reassure yourself 
that you are in His kingdom. This is the 
great significance of the public service of the 
sanctuary. It is the whole family of God 
assembled for His glory and claiming Him as 
God and Father. You cannot easily allow 
yourself to be absent from it, for two reasons. 
You need the assurance that you are a mem- 
ber of the divine household; and your breth- 
ren, who have need of the same assurance, 
must have you there to complete the congre- 
gation . 

It should be one of your most positive 
rules that you will not forsake the assembling 
of yourself with your congregation for wor- 
ship except for some thoroughly providential 
reason, which you could not overcome. 



— 55 — 



Your assembly for public prayer is the 
most filial act you can enjoy in your relation 
to God, do not slightly lose the benefit of it, 
for both yourself and your church. 

Music in Worship. 

The worship in heaven described to us in 
the word of God is one of praise and singing, 
and the words, of angel messengers when 
they came to earth, are recorded in poetry. 

All art is used to express the deeper emo- 
tions of the heart in forms which ordinary 
speech would be unable to do. And, con- 
sequently, in the religious life of the world 
every form of art has been found the hand- 
maid of the pious, in their adoration of God. 

But most of all have Poetry and Music, as 
combined in the act of singing lent them- 
selves as ready servants to express what is in 
the heart of man, of praise or joy, in his 
approaches to the throne of grace. And 
they serve well the purpose of whole bodies 
of people using the same words in their ad- 
dresses to God. 



— 56 — 



In musical services, as in prayer, there are 
several forms in which worshipers use them 
to give expression to the feelings of their 
hearts. And as these have different purpo- 
ses, it may be well to treat them separately, 
observing only that every form of musical 
composition used in the service of the sanc- 
tuary should be addressed to God only, or 
serve to express the joy that is in us, as in 
the presence and service of God. 

/. The Voluntary. 

This is treated first because it is first in the 
service and also because its place in the service 
is so much misunderstood. The voluntary is 
not a march for latecomers, nor a device to 
fill in time until the people are seated. 

When matters are right the whole congre- 
gation will be in its place punctually and be- 
fore the voluntary begins, and the voluntary 
will, in the hands of a reverent organist, be 
the opening of the service. It will be played 
unto the Lord and not to the congregation 
and will serve to more fully withdraw the 
worshiper from the world and attune his 



— 57 — 



heart, as he joins in the voluntary by reverent- 
ly following it, for the further worship of 
God. 

Or, when the voluntary is played after the 
benediction, its place is none the less in wor- 
ship, and when matters are again right the 
congregation will not use this voluntary as a 
march out of church. But it will prove 
again the means of expressing the adoration 
of the worshiper in grateful acknowledge- 
ment of the privilege of worshiping God 
which he enjoys ♦ 

II. The Anthem, 

Here again, the composition is addressed to 
God, not because, as someone once suggested, 
because nobody else could understand it, but 
because it serves as the best opportunity of 
the highest form of poetry and music to 
express the adoration of the congregation. 

In the anthem the choir is not singing to 
the congregation, but is leading the congre- 
gation in the worship of God. And it be- 
comes all the congregation to join in it as 
much as it joins in the prayer. 



— 58 — 



If you are a member of the, choir, you will 
particularly remember this and make your 
utterances so plain that the other members of 
the church can unite in this service. Nor 
will you forget that portions of the people 
are not as musically cultivated as yourself 
and they need the assistance which the words 
of your anthem can give them. Of course 
the words are not the most important part of 
the anthem. The music of course is what is 
especially addressed to God, but the help the 
words can give others will not prevent your 
worshiping in music and leading the congre- 
gation in expressing those emotions which 
are too deep for words. 

Above everything teach both yourselves 
and others that you as members of choirs sing 
your anthems unto the Lord. 

III. The Offertory. 

This as its title suggests is played or sung as 
a prayer at the offering of Alms and express- 
es the grateful joy of the worshipers in 
being permitted to give of their goods to Him 
w T ho gave all good to His children. 



— 59 — 



In using selections for offertories too 
much care cannot be exercised, but in doing 
so ever bear in mind that your offertory is 
to lead the congregation in the worshipful 
act of Almsgiving, and it is in no sense a 
march for the deacons to keep step by. 

IV. The Congregational Singing. 

Here music is the means of bringing a 
whole people to give common expression to a 
great joy filling them. And every member 
of the congregation should join in the service, 

No thought of discord should deter any 
member of any congregation from uniting 
with the brethren in giving expression to 
the joy in believing. 

There are it is true a few who do not un- 
derstand that music is, in the case of congre- 
gational singing, not the object but a means 
to an end. 

The address is to God and every one should 
sing, whether better or worse, but sing, with 
heart and voice, the song of praise to God. 



— 60 — 



The minister has made selection of such a 
hymn as he believes the congregation should 
use and all should join in the song. 

The Anthem is the opportunity for artistic 
music but the Hymn is for common use. And 
if a word were to be said here about tunes it 
would be to suggest that they should help, 
and be no obstacle to, the whole congregation 
in its worship. 

The Hymn is for all to sing and you should 
sing it heartily as unto the Lord. It should 
always be as before the Lord in words and 
spirit, and there ought to be no wandering 
from the hymn; no word of remark; nothing 
but worhip during the time of song. 

You will do very much for the praise of 
God if you will heartily and earnestly give 
your full energy and reverence to this part of 
the service in your church. 

V. The Doxology. 

The doxology is an exultant ascription of 
praise addressed to the blessed Trinity* It is in 
place to use doxologies in other places than 
in singing, as in prayers, addresses, medita- 



— 61 — 



tion. So also doxologies are sung in especial 
services of praise, in some churches they are 
also sung at the conclusion of every hymn. 

There are also greater and lesser doxologies. 
Of the former is the ' ' Gloria in Excelsis 1 ' 
and of the latter is the ' 6 Gloria Patri". 

But the doxology at the close of the service 
is the one to which this note refers. It is 
sung in the Reformed Church as a fitting 
acknowledgement of the Holy Trinity at the 
close of the services just before the benedic- 
tion. But that does not mean to say that it 
is put into the service as a convenient oppor- 
tunity for putting on wraps, hunting hats and 
making preparation generally to get out. 

It means that as the congregation recogniz- 
es the honor and glory of the blessed Trinity 
in the work of grace in the human heart, it 
now also unites in a holy song of grateful 
adoration to the Triune God. And it should 
be sung most reverently as becomes such 
a service. 

When the last stanza of the hymn is to be 
used as a doxology, the last stanza should be 



— 62 — 



such. It should always be, as stated, an 
adoration of the Triune God. 

Almsgiving. 

You will never be able to think of your 
Almsgiving apart from the worship of God. 
There is a giving for other reasons than for 
the glory of God, but, whatever form it may 
take, such giving cannot be regarded as Alms. 

The prayer and the alms of Cornelius came 
up before God. So the prayers and alms of 
all true worship continue to ascend, and 
wherever there occurs a separation of alms 
from prayers they lose their character — and 
it does not matter much whether you make 
this pronoun refer to either alms or prayers. 

You can express your absolute selfsurren- 
der, in property and life, to God in no way 
so well as by giving up to Him in worship 
some portion of your worldly goods. Only 
so can you really show that you have power 
to overcome the world so thoroughly as to be 
able to get along without its goods. The one 
who by economy lays up something for the 



— 63 — 



future shows thereby that he has so far 
conquered the necessities or luxuries of the 
present. But they who give of their incomes 
in the service of God show that they have 
overcome both the present and the future by 
their confiding trust in God. 

You should, therefore, early in life settle 
upon a regular and systematic giving in the 
service of God and that should be according 
to the privilege which the word of God affords 
believers as laid down in 2 Cor. ix, 7. It 
should also be observed that regular and 
systematic are not synonyms. There may be 
regularity without order or design, and there 
may be system without definite regularity. 
But when we say regular and systematic we 
mean that in your almsgiving you should 
have a positive intelligent purpose and plan 
according to which for the honor of God you 
will regularly contribute to the maintenance 
and extension of His kingdom upon earth. 

This implies that you will give your full 
share for the support of your own congrega- 
tion. You are a sharer in all its benefits and 
in all honesty, should be a partner in all its 



— 64 — 



obligations. Your father can no more give 
for you than he can commune for you. 

It also means that you will cultivate an in- 
terest in all the educational and charitable in- 
stitutions of your church, that you will know 
their location and needs, and be informed of 
all the missionary and other benevolent opera- 
tions of your denomination, so as to be able to 
intelligently make regular offerings for their 
progress. 

Your pleasure in your benevolent work 
will be very much increased by such a 
course, and besides you will become a more 
cheerful giver as you become a more intelli- 
gent one. There is very much grudging in 
giving for which the people ought to be 
pitied, they only know their money is gone 
but have no idea where it went any more 
than if they had lost their pocket books. 
There is no merit in getting rid of money 
even for charitable purposes, the merit lies 
in the intelligent gift given for the glory of 
God. 

How shall you give ? I should say through 
the organized channels of your church. It 



— 65 — 



will be more effective that way. Your very* 
best plan would be to make your offering 
through the treasury of your own congrega- 
tion. You can always designate the object of 
your alms, if you desire to do so. 

Oh, you say that thus your giving will be 
known to others, and you quote to me "Let 
not thy left hand know what the right hand 
doeth." And my reply is that even then all 
your giving will not be known. You will 
give in ways others cannot know. Besides 
your Saviour was speaking in the passage 
quoted against a false giving to be seen of 
men. The one act of almsgiving which He 
praised during His life on earth was that 
of the widow whose gift all the believing 
world knows. 

You need not fear publicity if your motive 
is a proper one. You will at least escape the 
temptation of concealing how little you give. 
A great many have already fallen into this 
sin of giving less to the Lord because nobody 
saw them. 

How much shall you give ? "As the 
Lord has prospered you." Many give the 

5 



— 66 — 



tenth of their income. Some give more and 
many give less. Here no one can speak for 
you. It would be as easy to tell how much 
you should eat, or wear, or read, or pray, as 
to tell how much you should give. 

When you give unto the Lord out of a 
thankful heart and you have in mind the 
glory and honor of God, you will have little 
trouble as to the amount. But you will do 
well to settle upon a percentage which you 
call the Lord's portion, and which you will set 
apart to His use. And like a good steward 
administer that in the way you prayerfully 
believe will result in God's greater glory. 

Give all that you can without grudging or 
of necessity remembering that God loveth a 
cheerful giver. But early learn to give what 
is your own. It will then, in the truest sense 
be your gift brought to the altar in love for 
Him who gave all that was His own for you. 
Make your offerings as far as possible out of 
your earnings or out of your own income, or 
allowances for spending money. This will 
tend to make the gift wholly your own, and 
also an entirely free will gift. You will find 



— 67 — 



that it is a little easier to give what is not 
your own, but the spiritual benefit of your 
self mastery will not be as good. When you 
give of your own you will realize the personal 
consecration the better. 

Finally, so long as you are in debt of 
course so long you are not fully free to give, 
but beware that you do not let Satan deceive 
you, for if your possessions are worth more 
than your debts, you are not in debt but 
above it. The debts you have are to be 
viewed along side of your possessions. Now 
if you say that your creditors must have their 
dues, you are saying a good thing until you 
withhold from God in order to pay man. 
God 1 s claim upon your gratitude is never any 
less because you have taken to yourself a 
larger portion of earthly good than you could 
easily manage. 

But even then you are free to make an of- 
fering when beyond your gift you are in any 
real sense able to meet your obligations. 

In all things give as God has prospered 
you of the earthly good you enjoy as an of- 
fering to His praise. 



— 68 — 

Larger Giving by the Young. 

Although these pages are for the young, 
this subject is yet in place. 

There are some objects of benevolence 
which call for particularly larger giving than 
the general work of what are commonly re- 
garded as charitable in the work of the 
Church. These are the educational institu- 
tions of the Church and special church build- 
ing in your home or other congregations or 
missions. 

Somebody ought to give largely, very 
largely for the Reformed Church. And as 
you are growing up this thought should go 
with you. Can you not give a large offering 
to your Church's work ? Why should not 
you endow a chair in some of our institu- 
tions ? If not now, why not in the future ? 
And if ever you are to do such a blessed 
thing now is the time to settle it with your- 
self and your God that you will in His service 
do some great thing. 

Pray over it and seek to know whether 
God has not called you to do this very thing. 



— 69 — 



Many of the very wealthy began life on a 
poorer scale than you began youTS, what shall 
hinder you from accomplishing greater things 
than they ? 

Only if you mean to do such a thing you 
should plan it early in life. Consecrate your 
life to it, and make things bend to that end. 

So also, you will sooner or later be con- 
fronted with a church to build at home. And 
the question of how much you should have in 
the building will have to be settled. And 
for fear that when that time comes you will 
say that if you were as able as old Mr. Jones 
you would do a great deal more than he will, 
I want you to think about a word or two on 
the subject. 

A poor young person is more able to give 
largely than a rich old person, who has never 
learned the joy of benevolence, and for that 
reason you should learn to give largely to 
some object early in life. 

You take the old Mr. Jones just referred to. 
He lives in every congregation only his name 
is not always Jones. And he never gives as 
much as the other people think he should 



— 70 — 



give. But he has money and he keeps it for 
a rainy day that only comes when his money 
can't buy an umbrella for him to shelter him- 
self. 

You think that if you were as rich as he 
you would do a good deal more than he» 
Well let us see about it. Are you as old as 
he ? or as feeble ? Do you have as many 
dependent on you ? 

No, you are young and you have life before 
you. You have perhaps a little more than 
our Mr. Brown had when he was your age. 
You have a little better education than he 
had. You have in short as good a start as 
he. Now, let me ask. Do you have less 
brains than he ? or less industry ? or less 
will to accomplish something than he had ? 
If not, then you have as much prospect in 
life as he had and you have the advantage of 
his experience. You certainly do not have 
less love for Christ and His church than he 
had. You can give as much as he to build- 
ing your church unless you see that at your 
age he had a better start than you have. Be- 
sides you are going to get more out of your 



— 71 — 

church than he can possibly get; you will have 
more years to enjoy it than he. Think about 
it anyway. 

And if you are interested in any other work 
the same thing might be said. And thus is 
left with you the question whether God does 
not mean you to give largely to some work of 
His, for His own name's sake. 

* 

Reading the Bible in Worship. 

Did you ever think to ask why the Holy 
Scriptures are read in worship ? You notice 
that at family prayers and in church service 
there is always the reading of the Bible. Did 
you think that this was done to make up your 
deficiency in private reading of the Word ? 
If so, it will be proper for me to say a word 
on the subject. 

The fact that this reading of scripture is 
in the midst of the service is significant to 
to suggest that the Bible is not being read to 
the people, and the length of the selections 
read is clearly much too short to serve as a 
means of much instruction. Nor could there 



— 72 — 



be more for any meditation for immediately 
the service continues in praise and prayer. 

The purpose of this reading of the script- 
ures in the service is for worship. The word 
read is memorial. It is read unto the Lord, 
even as your songs, prayers, and gifts are pre- 
sented before Him. It is the continual me- 
morial by which we hold up before God His 
Word, as the assurance of our worship. By 
so doing we elevate the ground of our com- 
munion with God. 

His Word is the evidence of His selfrevela- 
tion to those who have received it, and when 
Christians meet to worship Him whom this 
revelation reveals, they read it as a memorial 
of the hope that is in them, and of the found- 
ation of that hope in Jesus Christ. 

Since this word is not read to you, but is 
your reading to God, it becomes you to read 
it with the leader of your worship. You 
should have your bible in your hand as the 
scriptures are read, and read them with the 
leader, or when you do not have a bible then 
you should follow the reading in spirit and 
recognize that you are reading before God the 



— 73 — 



evidences of your right to approach Him in 
worship. 

Such a reading of the scriptures will con- 
firm you more fully in the fact of your son- 
ship with the Father since it serves to keep 
before yourself as well as before God the 
ground on which your hopes of acceptance 
rest. 

God has come to you, and, because He has 
come to you and claimed you by revealing 
Himself unto you, you may come to Him 
boldly in your approach to the throne of 
grace. 

Therefore, when the word of God is read 
in public worship and when you read it in 
your personal devotion, let your whole spirit, 
and soul, and body revere the word as the 
sign of the Father's love revealed in Jesus 
Christ, and hold it up in memorial of the re- 
conciliation wrought in you through the power 
of that word. 

You will see then, that bible reading in 
worship is a different thing from bible read- 
ing for study. By the latter you inform 
yourself of what God has revealed to you of 



— 74 — 



Himself and His truth, but by the former 
you honor God for what He is for you and in 
you. 

Eead your bible both ways, and read it 
much. You cannot know too much of its 
contents, for on your knowledge of such will 
depend largely the best use of your bible 
for reading in worship. 

But read it also in worship and thus let 
your memorial be the promises of God which 
you read not to learn but to hold up before 
God as the ground and basis of your hopes 
and confidence. 

The Preaching. 

The command of our Saviour to go into all 
the world and preach His Gospel, is for the 
whole body of Christians and ought not to be 
considered as meant for the ministers only, 
nor should ministers feel that they have 
obeyed the commission when from Sunday to 
Sunday they occupy their pulpits expounding 
the Scriptures for their congregations. 



— 75 — 



Christians at all times and in all places are 
to carry the message of salvation in Jesus, 
name to all people that need the gospel. And 
this they do both in word and work when 
their life is as it should be. 

But to successfully fulfil their mission 
Christians need to be strong through the 
Word and Spirit of God, as these are contin- 
ually communicated to them by the Holy 
Ghost in Word and Sacrament. And they 
who would be strong in the Lord will abide 
under the shadow of the Almighty in con- 
tinual worship. 

For this, the services of the Sanctuary are 
very helpful, and the church cannot value 
them too highly. Among the services of the 
sanctuary is the act of preaching, which you 
may not always have regarded as an act of 
personal worship. You may have allowed 
yourself to think of it only as if the minister 
were addressing you, which is true; but in a 
real sense only half true. 

The address from the pulpit is most truly 
given as before the Lord and means very 
much more than your pastor's expression of 



— 76 — 



opinion on certain subjects that may be occu- 
pying the public mind. 

Your pastor has in mind and in his heart 
the whole congregation's growth in grace, and 
recognizes more, perhaps, than any other per- 
son in the church, the fact that all growth in 
grace is from the Word of God, and not 
from anything he may have to say in explan- 
ation of that word. 

The personal meditation of the believer 
upon the word of God is the means of grace, 
for the scriptures expressly teach that it is 
both milk for babes and strong meat for them 
that are of full age. And both are useful 
when the individual believer takes the word 
with meekness, and not merely when it is 
spoken. 

This suggests, therefore, the purpose of 
preaching, namely, to lead the hearer in his 
meditation upon the word of God. In this 
view it is easy to see that the minister cannot 
be expressing his personal notions about the 
word of God, but that he is engaged in lead- 
ing the thoughts of his fellow worshipers in 
considering the word of God in such a way as 



— 77 — 



to help all to receive the engrafted word 
which is able to save your soul. 

Only, because of his place, as an ordained 
ambassador of Jesus Christ, he speaks with 
divine authority and yet that speaking is not 
in any sense a means of affecting the actions 
of believers except as the word of God and 
the Holy Ghost shall move them from within. 

Because, also, he makes the word of God 
his especial study, he will know how to lead 
your mind more fully into the truth as it is 
in Jesus. All the explanations he makes, of 
the passages of scripture he uses as texts, are 
thus having in mind not merely your intellect- 
ual instruction, as if he were a teacher of 
truth merely, but far more, as he is the leader 
of your soul, they are made for the purpose 
of enabling you to follow out in your own 
thought the word of God as it is applicable 
to your soul and its wellbeing. 

He also seeks to lead you to the way of 
consecration to God's service. The part of 
the sermon we often call practical, is not in- 
tended to drive you to do as the minister 
wishes, but has in view the leading of your 



— 78 — 



will through your meditation to will the things 
of God. Your pastor is not driving you, no 
man can drive people into the service of God. 
The most that can be done is to direct the 
mind of believers in the truth of God's word 
in such a way as to help them see in the 
scriptures what God's will is, and the Holy 
Spirit will bring the believer into the desire 
for doing of that will. 

You will thus see that the sermon cannot 
have the entertainment, or amusement, or 
even the instruction of the mind of believers 
as its object. It means as much more. For 
it truly is but the rightly dividing of the 
word of truth for the congregation that every 
one may take and use it as before the Lord 
and to His glory. In the sermon the minis- 
ter as leader, unfolds the message, and places 
the truth in shape for each one to use, in his 
spiritual growth. But the preacher can no 
more give his hearers the word of God than 
he can make them believe. Each must for 
himself receive, and accept it by grace ♦ 

Here you get your place in worship during 
the presentation of the sermon. You follow 



— 79 — 



where your minister leads you into the truth 
of the word of God, and you think with him, 
in meditation, his thoughts as truly as you 
pray with him his prayer at the throne of 
grace. You cannot let the preacher preach 
at you in his sermon. Much less can you let 
the word of God degenerate into a means of 
entertaining you a little while after the 
prayer. And still less can you let it become 
a piece of ecclesiastical pedagogy for you. 
No, it means too much of blessing to be a 
thing of merely the hour. The sermon is 
your meditation upon the word of God, car- 
ried a little further perhaps than you could 
make it for yourself, and illumined for you 
to make the truth the easier for you to grasp, 
but in it all when the act of devotion is what 
it should be for you, you will be receiving in- 
to your spiritual life the word of truth, and 
be making it your own, as you follow your 
pastor, and thus it becomes for you the seed 
of life to bear fruit in pious living. 

But even more than that, you will be 
worshiping God by the respectful and reverent 
learning of His own revealed word, and thus 



— 80 — 



you will be receiving that divinely appointed 
nourishment which shall feed your soul unto 
everlasting life. The Holy Ghost works faith 
in your heart by the preaching of the Gospel ♦ 
Think these things of the preaching of the 
Gospel and I am sure you will not lightly re- 
fuse to receive the word your pastor has pro- 
vided either by absenting yourself from the 
service or by thinking of other and worldly 
matters when your brethren are thinking of 
what God is saying in His Word. 

m 

The Sacraments. 

In the Reformed Church two Sacraments, 
Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper are rec- 
ognized as the divinely appointed signs and 
seals, for the confirmation of the faith in the 
hearts of believers. 

Faith, even when gendered in the heart 
by the Holy Ghost, needs such a confirma- 
tion, as will give the believers that comfort 
and assurance which God designs. Every 
one needs to have a means of establishing be- 
yond a doubt, or even the possibility of a- 



— 81 — 



doubt, the fact of personal participation in 
the benefits of the gospel. You need to 
know, for instance, that you are accepted by 
Christ, as well as to know that you accept 
His proffers of mercy. 

Now, it is this very purpose that the use 
of the Holy Sacraments is understood to 
serve. They form the highest form of 
worship whereby the Holy Ghost confirms in 
your heart the faith He wrought there by 
the preaching of the Gospel. They- are, con- 
sequently, the divinely appointed means of 
your nighest approach to the throne of grace, 
in which you both worship God and receive 
at the same time, through the outward and 
visible signs the seals of your personal ac- 
ceptance and forgiveness. 

For this reason we believe that only God 
Himself can ordain a Sacrament. You can 
easily see that no man, or body of men, not 
even the church as the body of Christ could 
ordain a sign of God. But when we know 
that it was our living Saviour Himself, who 
appointed the Sacraments to seal to you the 
promises of the Gospel so that you may con- 

6 



— 82 — 

tinually and steadfastly believe that you re- 
ceive from Him, for the sake of His sacrifice, 
forgiveness of sins and eternal life. 

It will be important for the sake of your 
entire peace of mind to understand that the 
signs and seals are only such. They are holy 
because they are divinely appointed, but for 
all that they only represent the heavenly re- 
alities, by which you are benefited and built 
up in your religious life. The grace and 
help can come only from God. He forgives. 
He accepts. He saves. He gives eternal 
redemption and everlasting life. And in or- 
der to make you certain of these gifts being 
truly yours He appoints these unquestionable 
signs, with which His church, by His own 
ordaining, seals them unto you. 

Further, these blessings in no wise are 
separable from the promise of the gospel. 
• There is no separation of gospel and sacra- 
ment. The latter seals what the former 
promises unto you. And in the use of word 
and sacrament together you enjoy the confirm- 
ation of your faith unto everlasting life. 
You cannot hold this truth too firmly. And 



— 83 — 

so long as you do your grant of assurance will 
be, not the sign or seal, not the grace o£ the 
sacrament, but the person and promise of your 
faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Holy Baptism. 

This is the sign of discipleship, the seal of 
adoption* In this service — for the Sacrament 
of Holy Baptism is never anything else than 
an act of worship — the believer is consecrated 
to his Saviour, and accepted by Him. It is 
that form of divine service in which believers 
accept for themselves and for their households 
the covenant of salvation, and in which the 
church, in God's stead, seals the fact of such 
acceptance, and assures and admonishes each 
one of the fact that the Saviour's sacrifice is 
for their personal advantage. 

It marks the beginning of Christian service. 
And your baptism is the continual memorial 
of your membership in the Saviours king- 
dom, into which you are planted for His 
glory as well as for your salvation. 

It also serves for the binding of families in 
the covenant of grace, with Joshua your 



— 84 — 

father repeats at the baptism of every child: 
"As for me and my house we will serve the 
Lord. 1 ' And your mother rejoices therein 
because she recognizes it, as her response to the 
Saviour's gracious invitation "Let the little 
children come unto me and forbid them not 
for of such is the kingdom of heaven/ 1 

In the grace of this sacrament the whole 
family, parents and children, as the former 
train the latter in the nurture and admonition 
of the Lord, is continually united in the tru- 
est worship of Him to whom the lives of all 
have been consecrated. 

The Holy Communion. 

This sacrament is the sacred assurance of 
your participation in the Sacrifice of Christ 
and all His benefits; and in this particular 
sense it is "the inmost sanctuary of the whole 
Christian worship. 11 Here, so far as your 
life in the church on earth is concerned, you 
come most completely into full communion 
with your heavenly Father and into fellow- 
ship with your brethren. 



— 85 — 



This is the fact of love, but not only of 
God's love to you, as exhibited in the signs 
of the broken body and shed blood of your 
Saviour, but also of your love to God in 
which you approach Him, as His needy child, 
in the confidence of your trust in the entire 
sufficiency of the sacrifice you are celebrat- 
ing. Love and mercy, both offered and ac- 
cepted, combine to give God greatest glory 
and yourself divinest pleasure as you come to 
participate in that sacrament which seals to 
you fellowship in Jesus Christ and the for- 
giveness of your sins. 

The forgiven sinner is, among men, the 
most complete manifestation of the glory of 
God. He is the exhibition not only of the 
majesty of God, but also of His victory over 
the world and over Satan, achieved by Jesus 
Christ. For every one that is forgiven rep- 
resents the love and power of God to save 
out of the condemnation, into which sin has 
plunged man. 

It is because of the fact that our catechism 
says that the Lord's Supper is instituted "for 
those who are truly sorrowful for their sins, 



— 86 — 

and yet trust that they are forgiven for the 
sake of Christ/' "and who earnestly desire 
to have their faith more and more strength- 
ened and their lives more holy." In the 
consciousness of sins forgiven conjoined with 
the desire for increased faith and holiness, the 
communicant, being the very greatest triumph 
of Christ, acknowledges God's love and bows 
in pious adoration with others to give God 
glory and honor and dominion and praise. 

You should always therefore welcome the 
communion occasion and in it lift grateful 
heart and open hands in sincerest reconsecra- 
tion to God 1 s service. Never miss a com- 
munion. If your sins stand in the way con- 
fess them and be forgiven. If you are at 
enmity forgive and be at peace in the service 
of your Saviour. Let nothing stand in the 
way but in the strength and purity which 
God supplies approach boldly in the name of 
your redeemer to the throne of grace and 
signalize in truest worship your sonship with 
the Father. 

Read over the communion service before 
you go to church and see how in it the whole 



— 87 — 



life of love is memorialized in order that you 
may enter into it all with a mind centered on 
Jesus Christ as the sum of your hopes and 
the surety of your salvation. 

The communion service does not or ought 
not to begin on the day of its celebration. 
The time honored custom of connecting a pre- 
paratory service with the administration of 
the Lord 1 s Supper cannot be too highly com- 
mended, nor too closely observed. You and 
your pastor should make it possible for you 
to always participate in the preparatory serv- 
ice of the congregation. For then your pray- 
ers and self- examinations are directed by the 
order of your church. But this cannot be 
the whole preparation for keeping the com- 
munion. Either beginning with the prepara- 
tory service or culminating in it, you will 
make the personal self-examination which the 
service suggests, open your heart and life un- 
to the Lord and, in an intelligent knowledge 
of your life, confess your sins and pray for 
help. Then will the service from prepara- 
tion to the final benediction, in all of which 
every true worshiper will participate, be one 



— 88 — 



loving act of self humiliation and reconsecra- 
tion on our part; and on God's, a sealing of 
adoption and an exaltation in His favor and 
love. Thus will God be worshiped and real 
joy thrill your heart in that most true ap- 
proach into the holiest of all. 

Now, as in all the worship of God, the 
whole congregation should participate in the 
celebration of the blessed sacraments. This 
is true of both Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
Whenever au occasion necessitates the admin- 
istration of either in private there is lost 
the comforting participation of the breth- 
ren. And although it sometimes is neces- 
sary that one or the other of these must 
be privately celebrated, it must always 
be understood that the elders and others 
present represent the entire congrega- 
tion. For the vows taken, in baptism, and 
the communion enjoyed in the Lord's Sup- 
per, are shared by the brethren of the church, 
and it is your duty as such to assist by all 
your Christian ability to help your brethren 
keep these vows and increase the joys which 
are the right of all in the communion or fel- 



— 89 — 



lowship of the saints. For you are all one 
in Jesus Christ. 

m 

Your Life as an Act of Worship. 

Do not think that all your worship can be 
paid in the church, as if the service of the 
sanctuary were the occasion when you rend- 
ered to God all the things that are God's. 

The fact is that in the public service of the 
sanctuary you are assisted in the worship by 
your brethren. There is the special promise 
of the Saviour's presence where two or three 
are gathered together in His name. Your wor- 
ship is directed. Your prayers and medita- 
tions are led, and in every way the public 
service of the sanctuary, whilst it is the most 
real worship of your congregation of which 
you are a member, is at the same time a help- 
ful agency to inspire your life, develope your 
graces, and strengthen your whole Christian 
character. 

You need the help which comes from the 
common worship with others; and God in His 
church has provided for this need of your 



— 90 — 



spiritual being, but your whole walk and 
conversation before God in the world, is a 
reverent and unceasing act of worship. You 
glorify God by every act of love you show, 
by every deed of mercy you do. It will be 
a most helpful thought for you to think that 
by your daily life you are worshiping, and 
adoring God. 

This is the real meaning of the Christian 
life. You are not left in the world as an ex- 
periment to see whether you are fit for heav- 
en, but to honor that Father who in His love 
has begotten you unto a living hope by the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Your life from the day of your consecra- 
tion to the day of your glorification — yea 
into eternity — is one act of worship by 
which God is glorified in His saints. 

Make this form of your worship as sincere 
and true as every other, the Christian living 
will be for you an unending joy and for 
others a helpful means of grace. 



91 



The (M. 



The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is 
the institution which He ordained and com- 
missioned to be the agency and means by 
which He gathers unto Himself those who 
are chosen to everlasting life; and for pre- 
serving and defending them so long as He 
may, for His own purposes, keep them in an 
unfriendly world* 

It is the kingdom of heaven established 
upon earth to exemplify, maintain, and ex- 
tend the Christian religion among men, who 
are able to realize the fact of the spiritual 
life only as they are enabled to see it embod- 
ied in believing people. 

It is composed of all true believers in 
Jesus Christ, and is, in the Holy Scriptures, 
spoken of as the body of Christ of which He 
is Himself the glorious and ever-living head. 
By it he carries forward and, so far as fallen 

93 



— 94 — 



man is concerned, perfects His blessed work 
of revelation and salvation. 

The Saviour, just before His ascension, per- 
sonally gave the disciples the divine com- 
mission to do the work, and, when, at Pente- 
cost, the Comforter came to abide with them 
forever, He established the Church as the 
means for carrying out their mission; and as 
soon as the disciples were, at that time, filled 
with the Holy Ghost, they immediately 
through His presence and by His power, be- 
gan to perform the functions of the Church: 
that is, they preached the gospel of salvation 
to the unbelieving world; and they admin- 
istered the sacraments, baptizing such as re- 
ceived their words, and made disciples of 
them* 

The Church, as you see, is in the world by 
the act of God and not by that of man; by 
the communion of Christ and not by the de- 
sire of the disciples ; by the descent of the 
Holy Ghost and not by the device of the 
Church itself. Its purpose in the world is 
God's purpose and not men's, even though its 
offices are continually directed to bringing 



— 95 — 



about men's salvation, for through the Church 
man is gathered into, and preserved in, the 
kingdom of God, But it is God Himself 
who chooses, gathers, preserves, and defends 
the members of His own kingdom ♦ 

You will, consequently, observe that the 
Church is very much more than an organiza- 
tion of believers who have combined them- 
selves into a common body for the purpose of 
worship or service; for mutual edification or 
support; for developement or encouragement 
in the life of grace. And every view of the 
Church which makes it seem, in the very 
least, to be less than the divinely appointed 
and ordained institution of God's own device 
for continuing the saving work of grace, 
places the Church in an untrue light. For 
man could not ordain God's instrumentali- 
ties, and the Church is the one by which He 
continues among men and for men the salva- 
tion accomplished by our gracious Redeemer. 

Now, as the Church is the kingdom of God 
among men, it is, in a true sense, the em- 
bassage of Christ, to declare to fallen men 
whereever they may be found, the undying 



— 96 — 



love of God in Jesus Christ; and to offer in 
that same love the full benefits of this king- 
dom to all who will accept the sovereignty 
and submit to the saving of its gracious Mas- 
ter and loving Saviour. In this embassage 
every member has his personal part and is 
fully privileged to make the declaration and 
proclaim the tidings. The sole purpose of 
all this work is to call men out of the king- 
dom of this world into the kingdom of 
heaven. 

The preaching of the gospel both from the 
pulpit and in the life of the believer is the 
continual declaration of the purpose of God 
respecting the salvation of the lost. Every 
earnest word, every pious life, every benevo- 
lent act combines to declare that God has 
power to save from the world and from sin, 
and in this sense becomes a form of preach- 
ing and constitutes a most positive testimony 
of the grace of God, as being able to triumph 
over the power of satan. The embodied life 
of grace in the Church is an unceasing call to 
the sons of sin, showing where deliverance 
may be found in submitting to the sovereign- 



— 97 — 



ty of Christ who always frees man from the 
bondage of iniquity and the fetters of sin. 

But the whole work of the Church compre- 
hends also, as already suggested, the gather- 
ing of them that God has called by the gospel 
into the fellowship of the kingdom. The 
Church is not only the exhibition of God's 
power but also the dispenser of His favor. It 
is the means by which God gathers His own 
out of the world and unites them in one com- 
mon bond of life in a living relation to the 
kingdom, and to the person of His son. 
Here He endows them with His own 
divine gifts, and makes them also embassa- 
dors, citizens, sons, to call and win out of the 
world unto Himself others still, whereby the 
kingdom is extended and spread abroad in all 
the world and men are brought to the knowl- 
edge of God and His salvation, and invited 
to share its benefit and enjoy its peace. 

All ages, past and future, share the same 
blessed life of Christ through the Church as 
do you, and this life is expressed in your 
holy religion, which you live both for the 
glory of God and the salvation of your fellow 

7 



— 98 — 



men. Here all believers unite in one fellow- 
ship, the fellowship of service in their 
Saviour's kingdom* Every believer is in the 
world to continue it, and this will explain 
why the Church finds the world so unfriendly 
and inimical. 

Neither satan nor the world would find 
any objection to the moral life of the Church, 
if it were not for the fact that the Church is 
continually proclaiming the salvation of men 
in the kingdom of God. And the fact that 
the church is ever being driven, by the world 
forces, from one end of the world to the 
other, in both bodily and spiritual persecu- 
tion, means very much more than the mere 
testing of your spiritual progress. God in 
Christ, leaves you in a dangerous world only 
because your Christianity is the only way by 
which others can be gathered unto Himself. 
Do not look upon your Christian life as a pro- 
bation. There is no such thing as a proba- 
tion in the sense of trial to determine whether 
you are saved or not. Jesus does not gather 
you into His Church and keep you in the 
world to see whether the Holy Ghost had not 



— 99 — 



perhaps imperfectly regenerated you; or to 
learn just where your spiritual life needed a 
little touching up to finish it. No, God 
knows, as the Saviour showed in His last 
talk with His disciples, tha,t this is a world 
that hates the Church, and will hate it so long 
as it continues to do the Saviour's work, and 
He leaves the Church in the midst of spiritual 
danger only that it may call and save others 
from the bondage of this world. But even 
this He has provided for, and He takes care 
of His Church defending and preserving it in 
the very midst of the unfriendly world. So 
then, you are called to make manifest God's 
full power to defend and preserve you from 
all your spiritual foes, in order that sinners 
may learn from your safety where safety is to 
be sought and found. 

Your Saviour did not leave you in this 
world to be tried by Satan and to give him an 
opportunity to win you back to his dark do- 
main of selfishness and sin, but you are here 
to declare by your purity and life that your 
Saviour has power to deliver even the most 
sorely tempted, Neither is your Christian 

LofC. 



— 100 — 



life on earth a means by which you are to 
prove your love to God, God knows His own 
and His perfect work, and no proof is needed 
to show Him whether you are His own or not. 
Your life lived in the danger of temptation 
and trial is for a very different purpose. 
You are the witnesses for God and Christ, 
to save the lost from the dangers to which 
you are exposed by your service for them. 

Christians are in the world as revealers of 
God to the fallen, to testify the completeness 
of the triumph grace has won in them, and to 
declare it to others; and thus the opposition 
of the world power is aroused against the be- 
lievers — the Church. And it is for this 
reason also that the Saviour preserves and de- 
fends His own in His Church, as He has prom- 
ised the gates of Hell shall not prevail 
against it. 

The Church, therefore, by being the means 
of preserving and defending the members 
who are carrying forward among men the 
work of Christ, is continually the witness 
of the sovereignty of the Saviour over Satan. 
And it is for everyone, whom Jesus has called 



— 101 — 



into this blessed kingdom, a continual assur- 
ance of the reality of that grace in which you 
stand. You belong to Him in body and soul, 
and you are members of His kingdom both 
saved and safe — both saving others and 
testifying to the fulness of His salvation. 
And even when you wrestle in common with 
all christians against principalities and powers 
of darkness you know that you cannot fail, 
for the cause of Jesus cannot be overthrown, 
and thus the Church stands as an everlasting 
refuge and sure defense both for yourself and 
all whom you may be able to win into the fel- 
lowship of the kingdom of God, and not only 
for these, but for all whom God has chosen 
and called from darkness to light through His 
glorious Gospel. 

The Church is thus both your defense and 
opportunity in Christ. In it you are saved 
and, at the same time, both witness and testify 
to His power to save and to defend all them 
that trust in Him. 

And now finally, you will, of course, meet 
with the question of salvation without the 
Church. Whether salvation might, in God's 



— 102 — 



great love, be possible in some other way 
would be hard to say by one who believes 
that with God all things are possible* But 
that is not the important question. It is not 
whether some other means might be possible. 
This one has been revealed as the way God 
has pointed out. Whether there may be 
another way or not, this one is revealed to you 
as sure. How foolish it would be when a 
storm is'coming, and a place of shelter offered 
to discuss whether there might be another one 
somewhere. Or how wrong it would be, if we 
were in a strange country and the way to the 
place we sought were pointed out, to inquire 
whether some other way might not possibly be 
open. This one is the way — so much is sure 
and the wise will walk therein. 

There might perhaps be another way, but 
the Church is God's way, the one He has 
chosen to reveal to man and you will be wise 
to declare your trust in God by accepting 
the means He has ordained and cling to them 
until you find another revealed means of sal- 
vation. 

Certain it is that the knowledge of salva- 



— 103 — 



tion is through the Church; the Sacraments 
are administered by the Church only; the 
spirit abides in the Church; and the means of 
life which God has declared may well be ac- 
cepted as the best way by which God can do 
His work among men for their best weal for 
life and death. 

The Denomination of the Church, 

We believe in One Holy, Catholic, and 
apostolic Church, but we see a very great 
number of differing and at times opposing or- 
ganizations which are called churches. 

It requires an act of faith to apprehend the 
unity of the Church of Jesus Christ for it is 
apparently denied by the senses and by the 
reason. The names, the customs, the doc- 
trines of these churches are so greatly diverse 
that it is impossible for the mind to realize 
that the whole body of these, varying and 
often antagonizing organizations, can possibly 
constitute a single, united real body of Christ: 
The Holy Catholic Church. 



— 104 — 



It is only when we believe the revelation of 
God and apprehend the existence of the many 
denominations of Christendom in the light of 
that revelation, that we can at all compre- 
hend that, in spite of all the divergences in 
teaching, practice, organization, and worship 
of the Church on earth, the Holy Catholic 
Church of Christ is one, and only one. 

When we, however, believe in the infinite 
truth of God and its endless adaptation to 
every spiritual need of the whole human race 
we occupy a ground from which it is possible 
not only to see that the Church is one but to 
rejoice in the blessed fact that the powers of 
God are not shortened by the limitations of the 
instrumentalities He is using for the revela- 
tion of Himself to fallen man, and for the 
salvation of the lost race. 

The truth to be taught for instance is in- 
finite, for it is the revelation of God; and the 
ability to teach it is finite, as is also the 
ability to learn, for these are human. None 
can hold or teach the infinite truth except as 
it is received and expressed by the limited, 
finite ability of men. Now as these vary so 



— 105 — 



will the apprehension of the truth differ. 
All accept it as true the one revelation of 
God, but each has understood that revelation 
according his own powers, and, with different 
application as well as with differing powers 
of comprehension. And the real unity of 
these apparantly differing doctrines can be- 
come fully apparant only as by faith we ap- 
prehend that in Jesus Christ is the full har- 
mony of all these divergences; that He is the 
sun of all doctrine; that He is the unity of 
all expressions of the truth. 

To faith, therefore, each true denomina- 
tion is the expression of some phase of the 
truth not expressed by the others, and instead 
of militating against one another they com- 
plement one another; for faith accepts the 
unity of the Church in the person of Christ 
even though the denominations differ in par- 
ticular forms of expressing religious truth. 
In this sense the denominations are one and 
only one. 

There is also another important factor to be 
considered in thinking upon the unity of the 
Church, and that is the fact that the gospel 



— 106 — 



is sent to all men, to every nation, to every 
nature. The Church has, it is true, but one 
gospel, but it is sent out into a world of end- 
lessly differing needs. People in one country 
are not endowed with the same powers as 
those in another. Evironment is very far 
from alike in the many countries, and climates, 
and communities of this world; and conse- 
quently, the humanity to be saved, scattered 
as it is all over the earth, and endowed 
with a peculiar environment, as well as 
with varying capacity for receiving the reve- 
lation of God as touching salvation, will vary 
very much in its application of the truth to 
each peculiar need in individual lives. 

Now if you will but add to your consider- 
ation one more fact viz : That people living 
under the same surrounding; enjoying the 
same powers; blessed with like gifts; never- 
theless, often vary in their apprehensions 
and applications of what is best for them, you 
will see at least the likelihood of many inter- 
pretations of any one message sent into the 
world, and an even greatly increased varia- 
tion in the application of the truth received 



— 107 — 



to the immediate needs and requirements of 
any one organization as related to others. 

These varying conditions have given rise to 
the many differing denominations of Christian- 
ity. They have not divided the Church but 
they have multiplied the forms in which the 
Church approaches men with the gospel and 
for their salvation, and, when properly under- 
stood, this fact will strengthen our faith in the 
real unity of the Church of Jesus Christ in 
the face of its apparant diversities. 

You will, of course, not expect that each 
organization was entered into with this fact in 
mind. Generally it was not recognized. 
The originators could not be said to have 
been conscious of any desire to become in- 
strumental in a farther or fuller application 
of the truth as revealed in Christ. Generally 
indeed each felt that the others were wrong, 
and at times the most unholy motives moved 
men in their work, but God overruled all the 
efforts and wrath of man for His glory in the 
salvation of men and for the fuller expression 
of the truth of God. And in consequence we 
are able to see in the many denominations of 



— 108 — 



Christianity a fuller embodiment of our re- 
ligion than would otherwise be possible with 
men. The truth of God is more fully ex- 
pressed, and received, and taught, and ap- 
plied to the needs of our race for salvation 
and righteousness, than could be expected 
from any one body of christian people. 

If it had been possible for any one mind to 
grasp and express the whole truth, or if men 
generally had been enable to receive and teach 
it, there might have possibly been some one 
proper embodiment of christian truth and 
doctrine. But with that condition we are 
not confronted. We find the world as it is, 
and you see the Church of Christ apparently 
greatly divided, and you are members of one 
denomination among the many. The question 
of your church's right to a place in the king- 
dom of God may arise in your mind and it 
will prove to you a great blessing if by the 
grace of your heavenly Father, you will be 
able to believe that the Church of all ages, 
kindred, peoples is one, and that through 
your own denomination you are a living mem- 
ber of the Church of the living God. 



— 109 — 



Like any other mystery in the revelation 
of God this one does not need to be under- 
stood, and when by faith you can really be- 
lieve that revelation which speaks of the 
Church as one, as the body of Christ having 
members differing from one another as much 
as hands do from eyes and yet truly members 
one of another, you will be able to enjoy 
as you should the comfortable assurance, that 
however much others may differ from and 
even denounce your church, you are never- 
theless members of Christ and of one another 
for the accomplishment of His great work in 
the world. 

Then you will be able to realize that all the 
denominations of the Holy Catholic Church 
unite in preaching one gospel to the lost: 
that they all accept our Saviour as the only 
revealer of the Father and the only redeemer 
of human kind; that they all agree in true 
faith in Him ; that they all live one spiritual 
life and enjoy one common communion with 
God in Christ. You will also see that the 
whole Church, though composed of so many 
members, fights faithfully against one single 



— 110 — 



enemy; battles for one common truth; and 
hopefully moves in the one fellowship of the 
communion of saints, through the toils and 
labors of this earthly pilgrimage, towards one 
heavenly home and one common rest. 

The Holy Catholic Church of Jesus Christ, 
whatever it may seem to be is, despite all its 
differences in creed or cultus, one and only 
one, the body of Christ, in which and through 
which by His word and spirit, He carries for- 
ward His work of grace among men. Each 
denomination in it has been called into exist- 
ence in the development of history, to be 
the bearer of some particular message of God. 
And, however much our untrained ears may 
perceive only a confusion of voices, altogether 
they make one revelation of God concerning 
the redemption of men through Jesus Christ. 

Each denomination, also, is the expression 
of some principle and stands for some definite 
purpose and work, differing from every other, 
in many particulars of doctrine, cultus, organ- 
ization, practice. And yet taken altogether 
the denominations of the Church express more 
and more fully the one purposes of the life of 



— Ill — 



grace as adapted to the needs of the whole 
race of mankind. And whilst it is true that 
no one denomination could, exclusively, be 
the Holy Catholic Church, they all inclu- 
sively constitute it for this world, and each is 
most true to God who has called it into His 
service in proportion as it is most loyal to the 
work God has given it to do. 

In this light, and it is wholly scriptural, 
there is no unnecessary division of the Church 
of Christ, by the denominations of Christen- 
dom. The Church is not divided, and your 
constant prayer will be that all believers, 
whatever may seem to separate them, may by 
the presence and power of the Holy Ghost be 
led to see that they are all one in Him who 
is Head over all to His body the Church. 

Finally, each denomination can learn, from 
the historical forces that called it into exist- 
ence, what it stands for and what it is to 
teach and practice among men, and it be- 
comes every member of the Church to know 
the history that gave it being, not only for 
the comfort such knowledge will afford but 
also for the intelligent carrying out of the 



— 112 — 



purposes of its life. This whole discussion 
assumes that each part of the body of Christ 
has its peculiar office and work, and there 
could be no necessity for a separate existence 
of a denomination which had not its particular 
work to do in the revelation of the truth and 
the Salvation of the lost. 

Our own Denomination. 

The Reformed Church in the United States 
is really only a part of our denomination, and 
that part of it which is organized within the 
limits of the United States. 

The denomiuation, as a whole has a history 
running back to the Reformation of the six- 
teenth century when God reformed His 
Church and made it conform more fully to its 
purpose in the world of declaring the whole 
gospel and calling the whole race into the sal- 
vation which is in Christ. 

But is not exactly correct to say that our 
Church began in that reformation. Our name 
suggests that the Reformed Church had 
an unreformed state or condition, and that is 



— 113 — 



the truth. We recognize the fact that in this 
great religious revolution it came to pass that 
our separate organization was effected, but 
when it is remembered that the congregations 
were not reorganized, that they were not 
started anew, but that by communities the 
whole congregations and churches, as such, 
went bodily into the Reformed movement, one 
could hardly say that our Church began in 
the Reformation. 

None of the reformers ever thought of un- 
dertaking to start a new Church. All their 
efforts were directed to calling attention to 
the errors and abuses in the Church, with the 
expectation that the Church should correct 
the wrongs and throw off the evils which had 
grown out of the conditions belonging to the 
Church prior to the reformation, and seemed 
to make it necessary. 

You should, also, understand that the re- 
formers of the reformation period, were by 
no means the first to recognize the errors or 
the first to undertake the correction of the 
abuses which were growing in the customs of 
the established Church. 
8 



— 114 — 



For years, I may say for centuries, from 
the very middle ages of religious history, 
earnest minded men saw and were making 
most strenuous efforts to reform the abuses 
in the practices of the Church. And these 
men were not confined to any one country. 
Many nations, as well as many ages witnessed 
the work of these men, whom history recog- 
nizes as the reformers before the Reforma- 
tion. 

During all the preceding ages, and in the 
Reformation period itself there was but one 
purpose in the minds of the reformers and 
that was to deliver the Church from the bond- 
age of her own wrongs. They all saw that 
the errors against which they protested were 
contrary to the word of God, and fearfully 
destructive to true piety. And as honest and 
fearless servants of God they made a Christian 
endeavor to reform the Church into harmony 
with the revealed word of God, as they were 
led to understand it. 

True they succeeded only in part, but the 
Reformation of the sixteenth century re- 
formed the Church to a greater or lesser ex- 



— 115 — 



tent in Germany; in Switzerland; in France; 
in the Netherlands; in Bohemia; in Hun- 
gary; in Poland; in Scandinavia; in Eng- 
land; in Scotland. Of these countries, it can- 
not be said that the. whole Church was re- 
formed. The great body of the Church re- 
mained unreformed, but it is not exactly pro- 
per to permit the contention to stand that 
to the great unreformed body belongs all the 
inheritance of the history of the Church, and 
the Churches of the Reformation period be 
regarded as having made a new beginning in 
the sixteenth century. 

In the Reformation of the sixteenth cent- 
ury God reformed His Church, He was not 
remaking it nor starting it anew ; there was 
the awakening of the pious life in the Church 
and with the reformers, as His instruments) 
He quickened the zeal and love for the truth 
as it is in Jesus, and so gave to fallen man- 
kind a new power to seek and help it ; and 
that was the Church Reformed. Not simply 
corrected of its abuses but reformed in its 
very life. The Reformed Church is vastly 
more than the Church of Rome freed from 



— 116 - 



its errors, for it stands for another element in 
the revelation of God through His Church. 

Up to the Reformation period the life of 
the Church was expressive of authority; and 
this authority was continually becoming 
more positively combined in one head. The 
developement was one sided for it was un- 
able to recognize the freedom of the believer in 
Christ. The Church authority expressed it- 
self at the cost of what may be called evan- 
gelical freedom, and as a result the Church 
really assumed control of the thought and 
conscience of its members and thus suppressed 
the liberty of the children of God. 

Out of this condition grew every error in 
the dark days of the life of the Church pre- 
ceding the reformation. The governing head 
of the Church continually went farther away 
from the freedom of the word of God, and 
brought the membership) into still deeper 
bondage. And the reformation with which 
God reformed His Church did more than cor- 
rect the abuses which were a sort of symptom 
of the false condition in the life of the Church. 
By it He reformed the life of the Church so 



— 117 — 



as to make the Reformed Church become the 
embodiment of the principle of freedom, 
evangelical freedom in the Church on earth. 

This explains why the reformation Church 
cry was a free Church in a free state. A pope 
might perhaps have arisen who in his greatness 
might have stopped the sale of indulgences, 
or who could have prevented the worship of 
relics; or who could have stemmed the selfish 
tide which was overwhelming the Church, but 
no pope could ever have made the great hier- 
archy of which he was the head become a 
free Church. It required the Church to be 
reformed into another form of being and gov- 
ernment, and that required the religions up- 
heaval through which the Church of the Re- 
formation was carried into a greater promi- 
nence than the reformers dreamed of. 

Now in the expression of this freedom each 
nationality in the period of the reformation, 
was effected by its own peculiarities and every 
country came to express a different type of 
religious life and some even showed two or 
three such types, that is, the Gospel under 



— 118 — 

the impulse of freedom proved itself applic- 
able to all the differing conditions of life. 

In this way originated all the peculiarities 
of the Reformation Churches, and since you 
are thinking particularly of your own denom- 
ination at this time I am sure that you will 
rejoice in the fact that, whilst other reforma- 
tion organizations have been called after their 
leaders, organization, peculiarities, yours has 
been honored with a name which stands for 
the great contention which recalls our histor- 
ical necessity. The Reformed Church, as 
a name, suggests that the denomination did 
not begin with its separate organization, but 
that it is the Reformed portion of the Church 
of all ages, which, when it departed from the 
word of God in principal or practice, God 
Himself reformed, by the processes of history, 
to be the renewed, purified, and, at the same 
time, broadened institution which He planted 
in the world to bear fruit in His service. 

There was a historic necessity for our or- 
ganization as a denomination, and the lines 
by which we were led into life as such, also 



— 119 — 



point out the purpose for which we are now 
in the world. 

We stand for evangelical freedom, self 
government, which is the most real liberty ; 
not as denying authority, but as being brought 
into such harmony with the divine law as makes 
most free those who most obey. 

Now in order to thus be free, a certain 
knowledge of the requirements of the life, to 
which we belong, is needed, and consequent- 
ly our Church stands of necessity for the in- 
struction of the young, in the doctrines and 
customs of our holy religion. We believe in 
an educational religion to the end that our 
service may be an intelligent one, and this 
fact grows out of the history of the Church. 

But this instruction can only be from the 
word of God, which received by faith, is the 
only recognized authority in our Church. All 
our standards are tried by it and that only re- 
garded true which comes from it as its source. 

From this comes our most fundamental 
truth that we are not our own but belong to 
our Saviour Jesus Christ which is really the 



— 120 



ground principle on which our denomination 
rests among the Churches. 

In Christ to whom we belong we are free, 
and, governed by His word and spirit, are 
taught by Him of the Father and the revela- 
tion by which we know Him. Here all be- 
lievers are one and equal by enjoying that 
liberty wherewith the Son has made us free 

Our Catechism. 

True denominations of the Church of Christ 
upon earth have systems of doctrines which 
they teach as the expression of what they be- 
lieve to be the teaching of the Gospel. 

These systems are generally embodied in 
confessions or catechisms, which represent, 
therefore, the doctrinal unity of the denomi- 
nation teaching them. 

A few pretend to have no confession to 
teach but the Bible, but their claim is often 
only a form of self deception, and churches 
making it, would themselves, most positively, 
resent the charge that they taught no one 
common doctrine in their congregations. 



— 121 — 



These standards of faith are expressions of 
what the whole denomination accepts and 
teaches as the doctrines of the Bible and, as 
such, they represent the doctrinal unity of the 
Church which sets them forth. 

Early in the history of our denomination, 
as a separate organization, the Heidelberg Cat- 
echism was prepared, which serves in our 
church the double purpose of our confession 
of faith, and the text book for the religious 
instruction of the growing youth of the 
Church. 

The Heidelberg Catechism takes its name 
from Heidelberg, the city where it was written 
and published* This city was the Capital of 
the Electoral Palatinate, and the seat of the 
great University bearing its name. 

Our Catachism was prepared under the di- 
rection and help of Frederick III, commonly 
called the pious, who was the first German 
prince to adopt the distinctively Eeformed 
principles. The Reformed creed as distinct 
from the Lutheran, was the creed of the com- 
mon people, perhaps, because the movement 



— 122 — 



belonged particularly to Switzerland were 
there were no princes. 

Heidelberg, as an educational center not 
having positively declared itself as between 
the Reformed and Lutheran theories in the 
Reformation movement, early became the 
center, also, of very violent disputation on the 
subjects about which the reformers differed. 
Each side sought to commit the university to 
its view and so acquire additional facility for 
propagating its doctrines. The discussions 
spread, and when Frederick became elector 
of the Palatinate he found his province very 
greatly involved in violent controversy and 
the University at his capital city, filled with 
angry and selfish disputations. 

Possessed of a noble pious heart, the elector 
set himself to the work of reconciliation be- 
tween the antagonistic leaders, but was unable 
to accomplish anything, and finally dismissed 
both sets of extremists and endeavored to 
establish a lasting peace, at least in his do- 
minions, by having published a catechism for 
the religious instruction of the youth of his 
country. This was the Heidelberg Catechism, 



— 123 — 



and the most scandalous feud, of the intensely 
zealous reformation age, became the occasion 
for the production of the most irenic confes- 
sion of that whole period. 

With the definite determination of provid- 
ing a standard which would bring peace to his 
people, Frederick sought for the workmen, 
who were to lay the foundations for the re- 
ligious education of the nation. He sought 
not among the men who had been in the 
midst of the controversy. He turned not to 
the great men who had been in the midst of 
the dispute and who had gotten glory in it. 
He went a generation farther and sought 
among the younger men for those whom he 
charged with the work. So he avoided the 
men who had been so disastrously arrayed 
against one another, and was enabled to have 
produced our standard whose object was to 
make peace without a victory over another 
to be boasted about. 

But in those days all men had convictions. 
In the great enthusiasm of that time every 
man was bold to have and to express them, 
and when Frederick sought for men who had 



— 124 — 



no wounds to show, and no victories to boast, 
he was really — shall we say providentially — 
driven into the company of the younger men 
in his intellectual kingdom. There he found 
the young giants, God had prepared to do 
this great work, in the persons of Zacharias 
Ursinus and Casper Olevianus, who were so 
inspired for this task that they were able to 
produce our undying Catechism at the ages of 
26 and 28 years respectively. 

The former had been a pupil of Melanch- 
thon and the latter of Calvin and both are 
said to have imbibed the spirit of their teach- 
ers to such an extent that of their work it 
has been truly said "The Heidelberg Catech- 
ism exhibits the harmonious union of the 
Calvinistic and Melanchthonian spirit. It is 
the ripe fruit of the whole Reformation and 
the true heir of the treasure gathered not in 
ten years, but in the entire period. It is 
thoroughly Biblical and represents its particu- 
lar denominational type with great wisdom and 
moderation. We feel from beginning to end 
in the clear and expressive word the warm 
and sound pulse of a heart that was baptized 



— 125 — 



by the fire and spirit from above, and knows 
what it believes. M 

It stands as a masterpiece among Catech- 
isms of the reformation period and is singular- 
ly free from the evidences of the acrimonious 
controversies of the age in which it was pre- 
pared. Of all the confessional symbols this 
one is preeminent as being permeated with a 
peaceful devotional spirit; and it enjoys the 
unique distinction of being the only denomi- 
national standard to receive the formal approv- 
al of the highest judicatory of a denomina- 
tion other than the one for which it was pre- 
pared, for the General assembly of the Pres- 
byterian Church at its meeting in 1870 
authorized the use of the Heidelberg Cat- 
echism it its congregations. 

Besides this endorsement, so lately given, 
our Catechism enjoys the very acceptable 
distinction of being the adopted by the 
churches of Hungary, Poland, Transylvania 
and the Netherland and has therefore author- 
ity in practically four European and three 
American denominations in Christendom. 



— 126 — 



It is also far more generally translated than 
any other confession. It is used in every 
European and in several Asiatic and African 
languages, and Dr. Philip Schaff, in his 
Creeds of Christendom, says that only three 
books "The Holy Bible", "The Imitation of 
Christ' 1 and "The Pilgrims Progress 1 ' have 
been more frequently translated than the 
Heidelberg Catechism. 

The first question and answer sounds the 
keynote of the whole production, and charac- 
terizes the whole Catechism as representing 
our Christianity in a comforting devotional 
aspect. The authority that commands is over- 
shadowed by the regenerate desire and will to 
live unto God. And the ground of all hope 
lies in the fact of God 1 s loving relation to 
such as belong to Jesus Christ in body and 
soul. 

It will be a profitable exercise, devotionally 
speaking, to regularly and prayerfully read 
the questions and answers of this great work, 
which is a product of religious enthusiasm 
tempered by sound reason and excellent 
judgment. It is adapted to youth and edu- 



— 127 — 



nation, but no less to maturer years and edi- 
fication. 

The plan followed in its arrangement is 
that of the Epistle to the Komans. The first 
question and answer are the general statement 
of the Gospel as related to the christian hope 
and comfort, and the second question outlines 
the arrangement of the Catechism in its three- 
fold division printing out the things necessary 
for a christian to know in order to enjoy 
fully the comfort of the Gospel. Knowing 
these things does not constitute the christian's 
comfort, but it contributes to the enjoyment 
of the comfort which every believer has as 
belonging to his Saviour. 

You will be greatly helped in all your study 
of the Catechism if you will keep in mind 
the division in which the subject treated is 
found, for that will indicate whether you are 
to understand it to belong to the things that 
show your misery, or to the means by which 
you come to have deliverance, or to the man- 
ner in which you show your gratitude to God 
for the deliverance you enjoy. In this way 
you will learn to know the Decalogue, the 



— 128 - 



creed, the Sacraments, the Lord's Prayer in 
their proper relation to one another; and you 
will understand regeneration, faith, conver- 
sion, godly living as these are related to your 
christian life. 

Whenever you turn to the Catechism, 
thank God for this great legacy and endeavor 
by a complete familiarity with it, to become 
thoroughly conversant with the light of the 
everlasting Gospel to the end that you may 
in this blessed life live and die happy. 

m 

Our Church Organization. 

One of the great principles of the Reforma- 
tion was that all true believers, being mem- 
bers of Christ, and partaking of His anoint- 
ing, are equally, with each other, prophets, 
priests, and kings; that no one, whatever po- 
sition he might occupy, in God's service 
could either lord it over God's heritage or be 
the necessary mediator between God and His 
people. 

The recognition of this principle will ex- 
plain how it occurred that nearly all the 



— 129 — 



churches of the period of the Reformation, 
were organized upon a system the opposite of 
the hierarchical, under which all the author- 
ity of the Church was exercised by the priest- 
hood, as a central head, and which, as the 
absolutely necessary mediators between God 
and the believer, in all things spiritual, exer- 
cised its authority in such a way as made it 
both the keepers of the conscience of the 
Church and the dispenser of the goodness 
and mercy of God. 

The Reformed Church, in its organization, 
is an exemplification of this principle, and 
expresses, in the relation of the officers and 
members of the Church to one another, the 
idea of individual equality of believers and 
of personal responsibility for the whole work 
and progress of the affairs of the Church. 
Every member enjoys the full privilege, and 
has the unquestioned right, and shares the 
common duty, of personally studying and 
knowing God's word and its requirements. 
And upon the theory that the regenerate 
children of God, in His Church fail in none 
of those things, and upon the conviction that. 

9 



— 130 — 



consequently, they will thus be fitted to 
properly participate in the government and 
affairs of the Church, every member of every 
congregation is regarded as personally re- 
sponsible for the .conduct and progress of all 
the work and business of the congregation. 

Before entering upon the consideration of 
the offices and organization of the Church in 
detail you should first of all stop to think 
what this principle means, as far as it has to 
do with your own life in relation to the 
Church of which you are a member. The 
whole institution, in its permanency and 
efficiency for doing its full part in the work 
of God among men, depends upon the indi- 
vidual members fully recognizing the prin- 
ciple and carrying it out in regular practice. 
No question can come before the Church 
which is not of personal interest to every 
member, and, it becomes you, therefore, to be 
ready to take your individual part in deciding 
every such matter when it comes up. There 
can be no true equality otherwise, and this is 
what the great contention for the Word of 
God in the vernacular, and the Bible in the 



— 131 — 



hands of all the people means. The re- 
formers did not mean to make the Book 
an object of worship. But they did mean, 
in the inspiration of the great reforma- 
tion principle of the equality of believers, to 
put the means, by which every such one 
could be fitted for his place and responsibility, 
wholly within his reach* 

Now, you can easily discern the importance 
of full familiarity with the Word of God, 
as your guide and helper, as the necessary 
consequence of this principle, namely, that 
all believers, being equal, must also be free, 
that is, self -governed. No one can govern 
himself who is unfamiliar with the obligations 
resting upon him. And the true study of 
God's Word for every member of the Church, 
is meant to help him see what the will 
of God, concerning his redemption and 
mission in the world, is. Only so, can the 
real character of the Church be manifest to 
the world, and it is always to be regretted, 
when its members so far fall back into the 
practice of the prereformation period, as to 
allow others study all the Word, and settle 



— 132 — 



all questions of right and duty, for them. 
You can see how such a course denies the 
whole contention of the reformer, viz: that 
the Church wants the Word. 

So if you mean to be true to the life of your 
Church you will continually endeavor by 
prayerful study of God's Holy Word to learn 
your place and work, as directed by the Holy 
Ghost, and thus be enabled to perform your 
every duty as a member of the Church in- 
telligently, in the light of God's revelation of 
His will, concerning the redemption of the 
world. 

You are not left to wrestle with the great 
problem without assistance. The standards 
of the Church point the way to your correct 
understanding of the word> and the constitu- 
tion of the Church guides you on the path of 
practice. When you first undertake this pro- 
fitable study you will notice that there 
are no rules governing your conduct, in the 
Constitution or Catechism of our Church 
except as in direct reference to the Word of 
God. But this is in entire keeping with the 
principle of the Reformation already referred 



— 133 — 



to, and tends to develope the ability of re- 
sponsible decision. The equal, and the free, 
cannot let others decide the right and wrong 
of their actions, and they would not if they 
could. It is under the conviction of this 
principle that you will best understand the 
organization of your Church. 

Now, if any one should be tempted to say, 
as has often been suggested, that you are 
unequal to this responsibility, I can only say 
that such is the contention of the papacy, 
and, if it were true, the struggle of the 
reformation was based on a wrong principle. 
But a greater than any earthly teacher has 
assured you that the Holy Ghost will guide 
you into the truth, and underlying every 
epistle of the new Testament, through which 
the Church is instructed, is the assurance 
that the Word of God does develope, in them 
that receive it, the life of grace. And it be- 
comes you as a child of God, trusting Him 
for that help He has promised in His Church, 
to grow in His grace unto that perfect man, 
that full grown man, spoken of in the Word 
of God. For what is promised is not impos- 



— 134 — 



sible with God, and it becomes you as a true 
member of His kingdom to know His word 
and continually govern your life directly by 
its precepts. 

After these general remarks on the Organi- 
zation of our Church I should like you to 
look upon that organization in closer detail, 
but in the light of this principle, 

In the affairs of every congregation every 
member is supposed to have a voice. The 
few exceptional cases, where distinction of age 
and sex are made to restrict the voice or 
vote of the membership, do not break, but 
establish the rule to which they are the 
exception. Everything of such a character 
as could be tranacted by the whole congrega- 
tion is always submitted to it, and such mat- 
ters, as are not so submitted are attended to 
by the Consistory which is wholly representa- 
tive, since every member of it has been chos- 
en by the vote of the members. Neither 
pastor, elder, nor deacon, can be ordained or 
installed in any congregation except upon 
the declared voice of the members at an elec- 
tion at which every member shall have had, 



— 135 — 



at least, the opportunity of giving his 
vote. 

The officers of the congregations compose 
the bodies which represent each congregation 
in the management and control of all things 
temporal and spiritual arising in the life of 
the congregation, and they also are the body 
on which the whole structure of the govern- 
ment of the whole Church rests. For they, 
and they only, elect the delegates which con- 
stitute the Classis, which is the authoritative 
unit in our Church organization. It will al- 
ways be a good thing for you to keep in mind 
the signification of these offices. 

Ministers. 

These are members of the Church who 
have been by their ordination set apart to the 
work of instruction and discipline of the 
Church. We recognize two kinds of elders, 
who differ, however, in no very important 
particular. The Minister is an Elder who 
gives himself particularly to the work of 
teaching and leading, and by his relation to 
the Classis, sustains a somewhat especially 



— 136 — 



authoritative relation as head of the congre- 
gation, and is therefore entitled to receive 
your prayerful and loyal support; and also, 
because of his entire consecration to your 
spiritual welfare, deserves your most devoted 
allegiance ♦ He gives his life wholly to your 
congregation and is constant in his prayers 
and efforts for its continual progress in the 
Lord. He studies your needs and, in medita- 
tions upon the Word of God, seeks to apply 
it for your spiritual good, and you will do* 
well to make him your friend and speak with 
him frequently about the welfare of your 
soul. He knows the general work of the 
Church, and directs you to your part in it, 
and seeks by all his powers to develope you 
in the christian life, and is responsible to 
God in His Church for your growth in grace. 
The office of minister itself which is not 
higher than that of the other elders, and 
possesses no more authority in the govern- 
ment of the Church, is, nevertheless, more 
particularly concerned with the general life 
of the whole Church, as well as that of your 
own congregation. He is charged with the 



— 137 — 



devotions of the people; and the outward unity 
of the Church in doctrine or practice depends 
largely upon the minister. For the sake of 
this unity the services of the Church, the 
administration of the Sacraments, and the 
performance of the rites of the Church, are 
ordinarily left to them, not as an exclusive 
right, but as an orderly ordinance. 

The Church, continually in need of such 
servants of God, has provided for the educa- 
tion of Ministers of the Gospel in regularly 
established theological seminaries, which are 
conducted directly under the care and direc- 
tion of Synods, and as you read these lines, 
will you not search your heart and prayer- 
fully inquire whether God is not calling you 
to enter upon a course of training which shall 
fit you for this blessed service ? 

Elders, 

Our Church uses no particular designation 
as between the two classes of elders. We 
usually speak of ministers and elders, and 
with this form of distinction in mind, I want 
you to think very highly of the office of 



— 138 — 



elder, in your congregation. For to these 
faithful men, set apart for the especial service 
of God in your congregation, is committed 
the very highest possible trust among men. 
And before your attention is called to their 
work in the congregation itself, you should 
think of this office in respect to its meaning 
in the Church, at large. For, besides watching 
over their congregation, the elders are also to 
guard the doctrine and defend the Sacra- 
ments. And this means very much more 
than is generally supposed. 

You will bear in mind that the authoritative 
head of the Reformed Church does not lie in 
her minister, but in the classis in which the 
membership of every congregation is repre- 
sented by these elders, and every year when 
the Classis enquires into the conduct of the 
Lord's work by His servants, the elders are 
asked whether the doctrines of the gospel are 
preached in their congregations in its purity, 
and whether the unworthy are warned from 
the communion. The high character of this 
office is evident from this fact, for it makes 



— 139 — 



prominent the guardianship these officers are 
to exercise every word and sacrament. 

There are those who think slightly of these 
questions at the annual meetings of Classis, 
and who even favor taking them out of the 
required reports of the eldership, on the 
ground that elders are not competent to sit 
in judgment upon the character of the 
minister's preaching, and conduct of his 
office. But, to say nothing about such 
a reflection upon the men who fill the 
office of elder, except that the statement^ 
if true, should send them to their bibles and 
their knees that God may enlighten them for 
the high and holy place they occupy in His 
service, it ought to be suggested that, if the 
Elders of the Church guard not the word and 
sacrament, there is left no authority to do so and 
the Minister who preaches the word and ad- 
ministers the sacrament becomes the absolute 
head of his own congregation in such a sense 
as would be entirely out of harmony with a 
Church, which cannot accept the dogma of in- 
fallibility in one pope, and much less in that 
of a whole ministry. 



— 140 — 



But so long as the questions are asked so 
long does the reformed idea, of the office of 
elder in it, demand that this trust be exer- 
cised as the expression of the desire for an 
unmixed word and an unsullied sacrament. 
And there can be no departure from this po- 
sition without the violation of the very in- 
tegrity of the principle governing the life of 
the Church. 

In harmony with this defense of word and 
sacrament comes every other duty of the 
elder. The oversight of the congregation j 
the discipline of the keys, opening and closing 
the kingdom of God, by admitting members 
to or excluding them from the communion of 
the Church; the visitation of the sick; the 
admonition of the unruly; the vigilance they 
are to practice to promote peace and the 
spiritual welfare in the congregation; and all 
such other duties as are set forth in the 
Directory of Worship as being the express 
duty of elders, all may be related to one 
another in the conception of the office of el- 
ders as being the representative, chosen, or- 
dained head of his congregation who watches 



— 141 — 



over his charge as God's own servant set 
apart to this work. 

This view will bring out the other character 
of the elder's work as being helpful rather 
than critical. He views the spiritual life of 
the flock not as a judge to pass censure upon 
the bad, but as a father to develope the good, 
and to help you correct the wrong whenever 
he finds you endangered by it. 

The elder in either office cannot serve for 
you. They may pray for your growth in 
grace for you and with you, but your personal 
part cannot be performed by them. They may 
point out the wrong, but you must leave it. 
They may show you the right way, but you 
must walk in it. Consequently it must be 
borne in mind that even faithful elders can- 
not make the christian life of any people. 
But because they are so near to that life, they 
will zealously guard it, and seek by all spirit- 
ual help to further it. 

To help the elder in the assurance of serv- 
ing because elders are but men even though 
ordained and set apart by God to render such 
exalted service, our organization provides for 



— 142 — 



a number of elders in every congregation who 
in the capacity of a spiritual council consider 
and determine upon the spiritual work of the 
congregation, and each elder is supported by 
the consciousness of the fact that not upon his 
one judgment, but upon that of the whole 
body, is based the conclusion of the matter. 

The office can not be magnified too highly, 
and if God calls you to His service in this 
office try to realize the conception of elder as 
coming down to you historically, through the 
life of Reformation of the sixteenth Cen- 
tury, from the earliest days of the Church. 

Deacons. 

The office of deacon is another branch of 
the christian ministry in every congregation 
of the Reformed Church. You will observe 
that this sentence does not say a lower, but 
another branch of the ministry. There are 
churches in which the office of deacon is re- 
garded as a lower order than that of priest, in 
the ministerial office. 

But following strictly the signification of 
the office as given when the first deacons 



— 143 — 



were set apart, as recorded Acts vi: 1-8., 
our Church regards this office, whilst having 
to do with outward and material things, as 
none the less a proper and equal branch of 
the ministry of the Gospel, with duties which 
find their full and final purpose in the salva- 
tion of men in the world to come. 

The notion of the lower character of this 
office grows out of the mistaken opinion that 
material things are, in the service of God of 
lower degree than things spiritual. But if 
you will only think that it is to make spirit- 
ual use of the material things that the office 
of deacon exercises its gifts, you will easily 
see that the Church designates it properly as 
a proper branch of the ministry. 

In very fact the office of deacon intended 
to further the work of the Gospel by guarding 
and directing the alms giving of the congre- 
gation. All the outward affairs of the 
household of faith are their care, and among 
these is the necessary work of looking after 
the support of the pastor, the provision for 
the comfort of the Church, the payment of 
bills, and much that really the congregation 



— 144 — 



ought to look after as a body of honest people. 
But the deacon who believes that the whole 
of his duty is done when the janitor and 
minister, and others, who have claims in the 
congregation, are paid, will need to read over 
the service of his ordination and installation. 

The deacon is the officer who has charge 
of the poor in the congregation and in the 
whole Church. These are the men the mem- 
bership have asked to see to it that the needy 
and the desolated are helped by the charity 
of the Church. And this implies that they 
are to guard both the poor and the Church 
against wrong. To see to it that neither the 
poor suffer lack, nor the Church be imposed 
upon by the undeserving, or become indifferent 
to the worthy. And, since the great charities 
of the whole Church are organized, and thus 
made more efficient, it belongs to the deacon 
to see to it that the congregation, in which 
they are called bear office, is informed of 
the needs of the Church and of the means 
needed to carry out the work in hand. In 
our day of so complete organization of our 
Missionary, Educational and other charitable 



— 145 — 



work, and under our system of classical ap- 
portionment, in which the Classis steps in 
and relieves the deacon of a part of this labor 
by asking a definite sum as the congregations 
share in the charitable work of the Church, 
deacons are in danger of forgetting that this 
is just as much their work, as if the Classis 
had not helped, and that accordingly they 
can well serve the purposes of their offices by 
seeing to it that the members of the Church 
are put in possession of an opportunity of 
participating in the good work done by the 
whole Church, by making offerings for this 
purpose. 

From its character the office calls for men 
possessed of a very high degree of virtue and 
integrity, for this class of men is the only one 
whom people are likely to follow. But in 
every event it ought to be understood that 
these brethren are your leaders in real bene- 
volent service. You should give them your 
confidence and support, and whenever any 
one of them comes to you to commend a good 
cause do not make their labor harder by in- 
sinuating that they are begging again. The 
10 



— 146 — 



Lord's cause ought not to need any begging. 
It does not. And if it goes begging in your 
congregation it is a fearful reflection upon 
the charity of the Christians there. And 
whenever you hear anyone complain about 
the much begging in your Church be sure to 
take him to a side and ask him to not plead 
guilty to the charge of neglecting the Lord's 
business so badly. 

It is deacon's labor only in the sense that 
your congregation asked them to do this 
work for them and every one in it owes it to 
these officers to make the burden light. And 
no one should feel any other way than grate- 
ful to them for the help they bring to the life 
of the Church. 

When the deacon comes to you welcome 
him as bearing a high office in the house of 
God, whom it is a pleasure to follow in the 
benevolent work of our denomination, and 
when finally, you are called to take part in 
this work, do not try to turn its duties over 
to another, but conscientiously enter upon it 
in the fear and by the help of God, assured 
that ' ' they which have used the office of a 



— 147 — 



deacon well purchase to themselves a good 
degree, and great boldness in the faith which 
is in Christ Jesus. 1 ' 

Our Judicatories. 

In order to get a proper conception of our 
Church government you must always keep in 
mind that the relation of the Church to all 
her members is wholly parental. The mem- 
bers are as in a family, where all are brethren 
and the whole Church is the mother of us all. 
The practices of the state cannot apply in our 
discipline, for in the state all the functions 
of government are carefully separated and 
guarded against invasions by each other, and 
when this distinction is not borne in mind it 
is apt to lead to confusion in understanding 
the relation of our Church authorities to the 
members. 

A prominent attorney in presenting a case 
at one of our synods, once tried to ridicule one 
of the classes, for acting as prosecutor, jury 
and judge, all in one, and said he had never 
in all his life heard of such a thing; but he 



— 148 — 



had for the moment forgotten, that his 
mother had in his early life filled all these 
offices and, at times, had even been the execu- 
tioner besides. 

All the functions of government are exer- 
cised by all of our judicatories, under consti- 
tutional limitations they make the laws, 
pass upon them, and see to their execution, 
as do parents in every family. And these 
functions are all exercised with a view to de- 
veloping the spiritual life of the whole family 
in the Lord. And whenever it occurs that 
charges of wrongdoing arise the parties are 
not to be looked upon as, in court parlance, 
prosecutor and defendant, but as accuser and 
accused; never as antagonists but as brethren 
at variance. 

The judicatories are constituted by the 
voice of the whole congregation expressed 
through the regularly appointed consistories, 
which are chosen by the votes of all the 
members. Only such persons as have been 
called by congregations to bear office in God^s 
house, and set apart to these offices by the 
solemn act of ordination, can have a voice in 



— 149 — 



any of the councils of the Church, and so 
participate in the conduct of its affairs. The 
consistories make the classes and these in turn 
select and constitute the synods and General 
Synod. 

Consequently you are to look upon all 
these bodies as representing the voice of the 
whole Church, and they -represent, in their 
several capacities, the united household of 
God in directing the activity and in planning 
as well as in carrying out all the work of the 
Redeemers kingdom within the sphere of the 
Reformed Church. The authority for so 
doing, however, originates in the equal mem- 
bership of the Church and never in the organ- 
ized, and, wrongly so called, higher bodies* 

The Consistory . 

This body consists of the pastor, elders, and 
deacons of each congregation, and acts for 
the whole body of the church in the conduct 
of all its business and concern. 

It is in all things supreme in each congre- 
gation, and in the most important measures, 
which it must submit to the final decision of 



— 150 — 



the congregation, it first investigates the 
whole situation and determines the whole 
question so fully that it can be submitted to 
the vote of the members to accept or reject the 
proposition. So that although the consistory 
does not actually determine any matter con- 
clusively, it is always the deliberative head 
of the congregation in all things. 

When a pastor is to be called the consistory 
invites ministers to visit the congregation 
and preach before the people and decide 
whether such brother shall be submitted to 
the congregation as a possible pastor for the 
congregation. Or they may use their own 
judgment and propose a minister who has not 
seen the congregation at all, and only as the 
consistory elects can any Church vote upon 
the question of a pastor, and after the election 
it carries out the will of the congregation. 

This same course is pursued in every other 
question affecting the wellbeing of the congre- 
gation directly. In other matters the con- 
sistory represents the congregation and acts 
for it. It fixes salaries, arranges for services, 
orders the disposition of the alms, selects the 



— 151 — 



delegates to the Classis and, in short, does 
everything necessary for the Church as its re- 
presentative head. 

The Classis. 

The Classis is composed of all the ministers 
and a delegated elder from each charge with- 
in a given territory in the Church. The 
voice of the Church, as uttered in the vote 
of a congregation, has been expressed, in the 
choice of every member of this body. Only 
those who have been called into the work of 
the ministry are entitled to a voice in the de- 
liberations of this body, which is the unit in 
our organization. Even licentiates, who are 
enrolled upon the records of the Classis and 
who may be engaged as teachers in our highest 
schools, are not qualified to take any active 
part in the proceedings as voting members. 
And, although this fact seems a sort of hard- 
ship for some very earnest minded and godly 
men, it demonstrates the high character of 
the classis as constituting the most important 
of our general church judicatories. For each 
member, now, enjoys a call from a congrega- 



— 152 — 



tion, as setting him in authority in God's 
house. 

There seems to be one apparent exception 
to this rule, when a missionary is ordained to 
the Holy ministry, and consequently entitled 
as a minister of the Gospel to a seat and vote 
in the Classis; but this is only an apparent 
exception, for the Board of Missions, in its 
official character, acts for a congregation 
which as yet has no organized existence, but 
which is recognized as at least probable. And, 
regarding such call as equivalent to a congre- 
gational call, the classis or synod is author- 
ized to set such a brother in the office of the 
Holy ministry. 

The Classis, in its service, represents the 
authority and unity of the Church within its 
jurisdiction. It supervises the work of the 
congregations belonging to its territory, and 
guards them against all possible imposition 
by false ministers. By its right to confirm 
calls, it exercises due care in settling all 
ministers in the congregations, and seeing 
that only the regularly ordained minister to 
the people in holy things; and, by its right to 



— 153 — 



dissolve the pastoral relation where it exists, 
it again protects the congregation against 
all hasty or improper resignations of pastors. 

It also guards its ministry, both by con- 
tinually inquiring into their faithfulness and 
efficiency, and by supporting and defending 
them against any possible congregational mis- 
conduct. At least annually, the classis calls . 
pastors and elders to an account of their 
stewardship in the congregations; and inquires 
into the state of religion and morals of the 
people under its pastoral care, and also pro- 
poses to all the congregations their work. 

Thus, with a parentis authority, this assem- 
bly of the Church undertakes to watch over the 
people in the Lord, and to secure for them 
such faithful performance of christian duties 
as will tend to develope the whole church in 
the life of grace; and it enjoys the full right 
to legislate, or judge, or execute law and 
judgment, limited only by the customs and 
good of the Church, .under its jurisdiction. 

You should as frequently as possible attend 
the meeting of your classis, and you will 



— 154 — 



be deeply interested in the earnest and pray- 
erful interest this judicatory exercises in 
attending to the Lord's business, as it relates 
to the Churcn it represents. For, by the 
Classis all supervision, care, and direction in 
the Church, and for the Church's good is ex- 
ercised; and no member of the Church ought 
to be, at all, unfamiliar with the proceedings 
of this body, which stands for the free and 
personally expressed willingness of the mem- 
bership of the Reformed Church to recognize 
proper Church authority. For the members 
of the Church have constituted the Classis for 
this very purpose. 

The Synod. 

The synod in the Reformed Church is se- 
lected by the Classes choosing representatives 
out of their membership, ministers and elders 
in equal numbers, to compose that body, so 
that you see the synod is a truly representa- 
tive, and, as all its members are responsible to 
the classis, which elects them, it is equally 
clear that the term higher body as applied to 
the synod is only used in a relative sense, 



— 155 — 



and refers merely to the greater representa- 
tive jurisdiction exercised by the synod. 

The chief work of the synod is first of all 
to review the proceedings of the classes and 
to pass upon the regularity of their actions, 
and to approve or disapprove of them. 

The synod, because of its wider range of 
supervision and greater realm of jurisdiction, 
determines all questions between the classes, 
or members of different classes. But that 
you may see that the authority to exercise 
these prerogatives over the classes comes from 
the classes and not from the synod, even in 
its organized capacity, it should be added that 
no part of a classis can be detached from it 
and added to another without the expressed 
consent of the classis, much less could synod 
dissolve or constitute on its own motion a 
classis. 

The Synod is also charged with the care of 
the larger Church activities, such as educa- 
tion, theological and beneficiary, and publi- 
cation. By this means the Church is guarded 
against irresponsible teaching and culture of 
the membership, and its unity of doctrine 



— 156 — 



and practice is conserved. This does not de- 
ny to any individual or corporation under- 
taking independently, the establishment of 
schools or the publication of literture, but as 
such have no synodical oversight and bear no 
responsibility to the synod, they cannot be 
looked upon as Church institutions, but only 
as private enterprises for good purposes. 

The synods may upon their own motion 
meet in, what is called, a general assembly, 
in which case it is composed of all the minis- 
ters and an elder from each pastoral bounds, 
within its bounds, and such meetings are 
common with the smaller synods of the Church. 
Such procedure does not in anywise affect 
the character of the synod, as a body, and 
only makes it more generally representative. 

When you have opportunity, attend your 
synod and learn its methods and so acquire a 
wider knowledge of your church work and 
organization. 

The General Synod. 

This judicatory represents the whole 
Church, and, in this sense, is properly spoken 



— 157 — 



of as the highest judicatory of the Reformed 
Church. It is made up of delegates chosen 
by all the classes in the Church, and is, like 
the district synod, a purely representative 
body. It stands for the unity of the whole 
Church in the realm of authority, but an au- 
thority which rests for its support upon the 
classis and congregation. 

The meetings of the General Synod are 
triennial; and to preserve the harmony of this 
organization with the others in the Church, 
and to save it from assuming the headship of 
the Church, the constitution of the Church 
expressly sets forth that the General synod 
shall be governed in its proceedings by the 
constitution of the Church, and the rules of 
order prescribed for the synod. 

To the General Synod is committed every- 
thing which affects the life and character of 
the whole Church. It supervises the proceed- 
ings of the Synods and approves or disap- 
proves them. It directs the missionary en- 
terprises of the Church in both home and 
foreign fields. And has charge of the Litur- 
gy, Catechism, Constitution, Hymn books and 



158 — 



all the ordinances of the Church. All 
changes in any of the ordinances must origi- 
nate in the General synod which stands in 
the relation to the Classes much as the Consist- 
ory stands in the Congregation. The General 
Synod considers and determines all the ques- 
tions affecting the ordinances of the Church 
and then submits them to the Classes for ac- 
ceptance or rejection. 

In this way the General Synod conserves 
the unity of the whole Church, and directs 
the work of the denomination. Through 
its boards, it presents the important work rest- 
ing upon all the members; and the Church 
carries out the work thus planned and outlined 
by the body which appointed to lead in this 
representative work. 

Be sure to attend a meeting of the General 
Synod, even if you have to go out of your 
way to do so. You will recognize the ability 
of your denomination to do her full share in 
the Master's service in no way better than by 
stepping into a meeting and witnessing the 
representative men of the Church dealing 



— 159 — 



with the problems presented by the work the 
General Synod always has in hand. 

& 

Our Start in America. 

The beginning of our Church on this conti- 
nent, so far as we can learn with any degree 
of certainty, is one of sadness. 

There may have been, no doubt there were, 
among the Germans in the earliest settlements 
of this country, ministers of the Reformed 
Church, but there are no records to verify 
this opinion. Even the name of any minis- 
ter who at all represented our Church before 
the coming of the Palatines is wanting. 
And, indeed, exactly the same must be said 
of the pastors who came with the refugees 
from the valley of the Upper Rhine ; but it 
is very hard to conceive of such a body of 
pious people, as the Palatines must have been, 
coming over as wanderers into this new coun- 
try by the thousands without some ministers 
among them* There are no records of minis- 
ters accompanying the persecuted driven Pa- 
latines as they came to this country, and yet 



— 160 — 



that one can hardly believe that of all the 
pastors who served these people among the 
vine clad hills of the Upper Rhine, none 
should be found who would go with them, 
and share with them the hardship and pover- 
ty which followed their expulsion from the 
devasted Palatinate. It is easier to believe 
that their ministers came with them, and that 
inexplicable hindrances of poverty and dire 
need kept them from organizing permanent 
congregations. At least, in the better day 
that followed, when Mr. Weiss, in 1726 he 
came with 400 people from the "Palatinate 
upon the Rhine into this Province of Pensil- 
vania," there would hardly have been any 
record of his work, but for the evidence re- 
corded in famous case before the Court of 
Chancery at Philadelphia 1732. 

There is little record of the coming of the 
Palatines, but what there is ought to be re- 
membered. 

When Louis XIV of France, disappointed 
both in his ambition and in his greed for em- 
pire, ordered the devastation of the Palatin- 
ate, the Reformed Exodus, to which we with- 



— 161 — 



out a doubt owe our beginning in America, 
began. Literally thousands of members of 
the Keformed dwellers in the Palatinate, 
homeless and in poverty, because all their 
property, as well as every means of subsist- 
ance had been shamelessly destroyed, wan- 
dered away from the smoking ruins of cities, 
towns, villages, homes and fields of the 
once beautiful lands of their fathers; and 
whither? 

As they journeyed by multitudes in hunger 
and rags, they were often fed at public ex- 
pense and sent further on their way until they 
came into Holland from whence they were 
scattered all over the world. Some going into 
Germany others into the Dutch Indies, and 
many into England, where because of the op- 
position of the trades guilds, who feared the 
result of the competition of these Germans; 
who would work for any price sooner than be 
paupers, the attention of Queen Anne was; 
called to them, and she finally invited the 
suffering Germans to locate in America and 
provided transportation for large numbers of 
them herself. And this was the company 

11 



— 162 — 



who without a question marked the beginning 
of our Reformed Church on American soil. 

To these, as years went on, members were 
added, and here and there, an earnest minis- 
ter beat a track in the unbroken wilderness of 
unrecorded suffering, anxiety, want. But at 
most, a few scattered names, such as Hager, 
Weiss, Boehme, Rieger, is what we have; to 
which should perhaps be added that so late as 
1750 the last named invited ministers of un- 
stained character to the welcome and support 
of the Church and warned the Church against 
"degraded deposed babblers" who came be- 
cause ministers were few and the people anx- 
ious for the Gospel. From which much can 
be inferred as to the need and supply of min- 
isters in the days of our beginning. 

How shall we sufficiently thank God who 
preserved His Church through that dark day 
in her history other than by a most devoted 
loyalty to Him and the Church He saved for 
His own good and wise purpose. 

The year 1746, with the coming of Michael 
Schlatter, may however be set as the histor- 
ical beginning of our denomination, for then 



— 163 — 



was organized the first Coetus — as the orig- 
inal body of ministers and elders was called — 
which differed from the classis and synod of 
our present organization in the fact that it 
was a purely advisory body and had absolutely 
no other jurisdiction in the world. It sur- 
veyed the field and reported what should be 
done, and distributed the support which the 
Classis of Amsterdam and the Synods of Hol- 
land so generously contributed for the sup- 
port of the work. 

Whilst this course did not develope great 
strength and usefulness, it nevertheless suc- 
ceeded in holding together what otherwise 
must have been a lost Church. And for 
nearly fifty years the Fathers in Holland sup- 
ported the forefathers of our denomination, 
and the day ought never to come when you 
should not be grateful to God and the breth- 
ren He used to keep us for His service in 
this country. 

On April 27th A. D. 1793 was organized 
the first Synod of our Church which adopted 
as its title the Synod of the German Reformed 
Church of the United States of America, and 



— 164 — 

that marked the real beginning of the de- 
nomination as a separate organization. The 
whole number of ministers of our Church, in 
the Synod, at that time was 22, with about 
100 congregations, having a membership of 
11,680 communicant members, from which 
you may from time to time compare the 
numbers of your ministers, churches and 
members, and settle in your own mind by 
what act of pious devotion you will honor 
God for the growth and purposes of the 
Church in which He is using you in His 
service and for His glory. 

m 



ft task WW. 



165 



Just a Word to Glose. 



You are, or you ought to become a com- 
municant member of the Reformed Church, 
and for this reason I desire to give you as we 
part company one additional counsel. 

Strive to become a faithful and an intelli- 
gent member of the kingdom of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. 

If you have such a desire there is no better 
way for you than to acquaint yourself with 
the literature of your Church. The body of 
our literature as a denomination is not large 
and every earnest member of our Church may 
with but a small outlay become the possessor 
of all the books, so far, published by the 
ministers of the Reformed Church in the 
United States. Buy them and read them. 

Our current literature is limited but, 
what there is, is very helpful to the end I am 

167 



— 168 — 



directing you. You ought, in the first place, 
read, regularly, the paper published by your 
synod. So that you may know just what is 
occupying the mind of the Church. You 
will know of the progress and needs of the 
denomination, in her educational, missionary 
and charitable work, in no way so well as by 
a careful reading of the literature prepared 
to give this particular information. Your 
Synod's paper brings as no other periodical 
can the particular need of the hour, and you 
ought not to deny yourself the benefit of such 
help. 

You will, thus, be more conversant with 
the schools and institutions of your church: 
Where they are ; what they are doing ; what 
they may need. Your energies will be the 
more intelligently directed, when you know 
what your brethren in the church are doing, 
and that you are helping along in the general 
good work of the Church. 

You will understand more fully the objects 
of charity to which your church is devoting 
her benevolences. And you will realize that 
the work undertaken is worthy of the Church 



— 169 — 



and consequently your personal delight in 
almsgiving will be increased. 

You will, in short, come into intelligent 
sympathy with every good work of the 
Church both at large and, especially, within 
the bounds of the immediate organization to 
which you belong and in which God has 
by His grace gathered you for service. It 
was no accident which made your christian 
life to be developed in your own church or- 
ganization, and you can, really, be loyal to 
Christ best of all when you serve Him at the 
post He put you. 

Other synods have equally good papers, 
and the broad minded believer who loves his 
whole Church will not do otherwise than to 
read the publications of the whole Church, 
but, if for any reason you are denied such 
privilege, then read prayerfully the one 
published by your Synod. You will be able 
to get cheaper papers, more sensational pa- 
pers, larger papers, different papers of 
many varying characteristics, but you will 
never be able to get a more helpful periodical 
than the one which brings to you the news, 



— 170 — 



the thought, the instruction, the work of 
your own spiritual leaders* If yours should 
cost more it is only because it is the more im- 
portant in your denominational developement. 

Along with your Bible which should al- 
ways be your daily guide and help, read your 
Church paper so that you will always have 
and enjoy the knowledge of what God is ac- 
complishing by your Church, and so be able 
yourself to have an intelligent part in all that 
work. 

The more intelligently you serve your God 
in the congregation and Church in which He 
has put you the more definitely loyal will you 
be to Him who has given you a place to work 
in His vineyard. 

And now praying that God will ever find 
many uses for you in His kingdom, 
Farewell, 

J. M. Schick. 



INDEX. 



Page. 



A few words to Catechumens 5 

A first word to the Catechumen 7 

Your memorial page 9 

Your name 10 

Your birthday 13 

Your baptismal day 15 

The day of your confirmation , 17 

The anniversary of your first com- 
munion 19 

Your vows 21 

Your catechisation 25 

Commit the questions and answers to 

memory 27 

A few words to worshipers 31 

The worship of God 33 

Your attendence upon divine service 35 

Praying ; 40 

The kinds of prayer 43 

Private prayer 44 

Family prayer 47 

Public service 51 

Music in worship . 55 

I. The voluntary 56 

II. The anthem 57 

III. The offertory .- 58 

IV. The congregational singing 59 

V. The doxology 60 



A few WOrds to worshipers. (Continued.) Page. 

Almsgiving 62 

Larger giving by the young.. 68 

Reading the bible in worship 71 

The preaching , 74 

The sacraments 80 

Holy baptism 83 

The holy communion 84 

Your life as an act of worship 89 

A few words about the church, 91 

The Church 93 

The denominations of the Church 103 

Our own denomination 112 

Our catechism 120 

Our church organization 128 

Ministers 135 

Elders 137 

Deacons 142 

Our Judicatories e 147 

The Consistory 149 

TheClassis 151 

Tne Synod 154 

The General Synod, 156 

Our start in America 159 

A last word 165 

Just a word to close 167 



